HONG KONG (CNN) At least 29 people were killed on Wednesday night after an interisland ferry in the southern Philippines caught fire, with many of the 250 passengers jumping overboard into dark waters trying to escape the fire, authorities said.
The Philippine Coast Guard said Thursday search and rescue efforts are ongoing after the fire broke out on the MV Lady Mary Joy 3 around 11 p.m. local time as she sailed southwest from Zamboanga province to Jolo in Sulu province. Rescuers rescued 160 passengers and 36 crew members, the Philippine Coast Guard added.
Around 35 passengers jumped off the ship after hearing an explosion, Arsina Kahing-Nanoh, a municipal mayor in Basilan province, told CNN affiliate CNN Philippines.
Basilan residents went ashore to try to rescue those who jumped off the ship after seeing from a distance the ship had caught fire and was heading for their remote island, she said.
“Some of the passengers had burns on their bodies,” she told CNN Philippines.
Dramatic videos released by the Basilan provincial government show the ship ablaze as it reaches shore while a crowd tries to rescue survivors from the wreckage.
Gray smoke could still be seen coming from the ship after the fire was extinguished Thursday morning.
“I thought I was dreaming but when I opened my eyes it was dark and we were surrounded by smoke,” Mina Nani, 46, a passenger on the ferry, told DZRH radio, according to Portal.
Commodore Rejard Marfe, chief of the Coast Guard in the Mindanao region, said there was “chaos” after the fire woke people from their sleep and the 18 victims found on board were “totally burned”, Portal reported.
The Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,600 islands, has a poor maritime safety record, and ships in the Southeast Asian country are often old and overcrowded.
In May last year, at least seven people died when a high-speed ferry carrying 134 people caught fire about 60 kilometers east of the capital Manila.
Earlier this month, a tanker carrying 800,000 liters (211,340 gallons) of industrial heating oil sank in Oriental Mindoro province southwest of Manila, polluting the coasts of at least three provinces and threatening the country’s diverse marine life.