At least 23 people were killed and 31 others reported missing after a ferry capsized in the northern Philippines, the coast guard said yesterday.
The vessel, Maejan, carrying at least 102 passengers, was on its way from the island of Calayan to the country’s main island of Luzon late on Sunday when it was hit by large waves, said coast guard spokesman Lieutenant Gary Gimotea.
Two coast guard rescue boats and a search plane have been dispatched to the area to search for the missing, the coast guard said. Civil defense officials said however that heavy seas were hampering search efforts.
Forty-six survivors have been rescued from the area where the boat capsized, just off the town of Ballesteros, the coast guard said.
The boat was approaching the port of Aparri in northern Luzon when it got caught in a powerful current and began drifting into rough waters, the coast guard said.
Earlier coast guard reports said 28 people had been killed, but officials said a “double-checking” of the tally showed the number of confirmed dead was lower than first reported.
Among the dead is a one-year-old boy, the civil defense office said, adding that the area is known for its strong waves and currents.
Gimotea said initial reports indicated the boat was overloaded when it set off. The ferry’s maximum capacity was not immediately clear.
Gimotea said they were looking into reports that the engine malfunctioned, causing the vessel to drift in the current.
Witnesses were quoted in local television reports saying strong waves shattered one of the boat’s outriggers, making it vulnerable to capsizing.
A special marine board will be convened to investigate, Gimotea said, but added: “At the moment, we are concentrating on search and rescue.”
The capsizing was the latest in a string of maritime accidents to hit the archipelago.
Late last month at least 42 people died when a ferry was hit by a freak whirlwind in the central Philippines.
In June, the 23,000-tonne Princess of the Stars, carrying 850 passengers and crew, capsized after hitting a reef off the central island of Sibuyan.
Only 57 passengers and crew survived in the country’s worst maritime disaster for 20 years.
Many Filipinos are forced to rely on poorly maintained ferries — usually just large motorboats with outriggers — as the main form of transport between islands.
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
RSS