MANILA, Philippines – Five people have died and 87 remain missing after a passenger ship caught fire near Coron Island, one of the main tourist destinations in the western Philippines, coast guard officials said on Thursday.

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The vessel, which was carrying 134 passengers and crew, caught fire during the night of Wednesday while sailing near the coast of Coron in Palawan province, and so far 42 people have been rescued.

Data from the maritime monitoring portal MarineTraffic indicates that the ferry, named M/V June Aster, had departed Manila on Tuesday night. The Philippine Coast Guard said in its latest update on Facebook that search and rescue operations continue, and in a video shared by the coast guard on the social media platform, the vessel can be seen completely engulfed in flames.

Coast guard spokesperson Noemi Cayabyab warned that the figures for missing and deceased are preliminary and may change as search and rescue operations continue, in statements to local radio station RMN. Cayabyab specified that attempts to extinguish the flames were still ongoing in the early hours of Thursday.

Maritime accidents in the Philippines claim dozens of lives each year, most in shipwrecks caused by bad weather, non-compliance with safety regulations, faulty equipment maintenance or overcrowding. In January, 66 people lost their lives when a ferry carrying more than 350 passengers sank while heading to Jolo island in the southern Mindanao region.

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The most serious incident 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, killing 4,341 people.

-Thailand News (TN)