Bangkok.- The
Philippine authorities raised to 29 the number of deaths from the sinking of a ferry on Monday as it headed to the island of Jolo, located in the southern region of Mindanao, with around 350 people on board and while the cause of the incident is being investigated.
The
Philippine Coast Guard indicated the previous day that they have recovered the bodies of 11 people during search and rescue operations, which are added to the 18 deaths that were reported after the accident.
The sinking occurred on Monday around 1:50 local time (17:50 GMT on Sunday) approximately 2.75 nautical miles northeast of Baluk-Baluk Island, in the island province of Basilan, off the southwestern coast of Mindanao Island.
The ferry departed from the port of Zamboanga City around 21:20 local time Sunday (13:20 GMT) and was heading to Jolo Island, located in the Sulu archipelago.
The causes of the incident have not yet been revealed, and it is suggested that it may have been due to technical problems.
“In addition to teams from government agencies and the private sector, residents, fishermen and family members of missing persons also participated in the operation” of search and rescue, the coast guard said in a statement.
According to the text published on their Facebook profile, local authorities are still trying to determine the exact number of people who were on board the ferry, which are usually overloaded, and although initially the missing were counted in a dozen.
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Previously, the coast guard had reduced the number of passengers and crew from 359 to 344 because 15 of the passengers did not board the ferry.
Dive teams and drones have been deployed in the shipwreck area to search for possible victims who may be trapped in the wreck, which is at a depth of about 76 meters.
On the other hand, naval authorities ordered on Tuesday to immobilize all ships of the operator of the sunken ferry to conduct an “exhaustive investigation” of the fleet.
Maritime accidents in
the Philippines claim dozens of lives each year, mostly in shipwrecks caused by bad weather, non-compliance with safety regulations, defective equipment maintenance, or overloading.
The most serious event in the modern history of commercial navigation occurred in the Philippines in 1987, when the ferry Doña Paz capsized in the waters of Leyte after colliding with an oil tanker, and 4,341 people died.
