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| Sunday, 29 February 2004 |
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Philippine rescuers hunt for missing in ferry fire (Reuters) - Philippine rescuers scoured the sea on Saturday for at least 110 missing victims of a ferry blaze as the coastguard rejected suspicion the fire had been caused by a bomb. Many on board the 10,000-tonne Super Ferry 14 said they heard an explosion before fire broke out shortly after midnight on Friday. The coastguard said 766 people were rescued, including 153 crew members. It listed one dead. "We are rejecting the terrorist angle as of now, unless it is proven otherwise," coastguard Rear Admiral Arthur Gosingan told told Reuters. The coastguard inspects boats at ports before allowing them to set sail around the country of more than 7,100 islands and he said the inspection had found no evidence of any explosives. "As of now, our reports show the fire started at the galley but it's very hard to speculate. We'll know what happened once we inspect the ship," Gosingan said. Maritime accidents are common in the Philippines, and are often caused by overcrowding on rickety craft, but the 155-metre (510-foot) long Super Ferry 14 was apparently not over-loaded and is a relatively new ship. Another relative said most of the missing passengers had been in cabins when the fire started. Gosingan said Manila Bay was calm on Saturday and survivors could still be found. "We just hope no one drifted outside Manila Bay. We hope fisherman may have rescued them," he said. Smoke still billowed from parts of the ferry on Saturday. The boat listed on its right side after it was towed from the mouth of Manila Bay to Bataan island. Gosingan said he hoped divers could enter the ship later on Saturday. The ferry, which the coastguard said was carrying a total 879 passengers and crew, was on a journey from Manila to Bacolod in central Philippines when the disaster struck an hour after it left port. WG&A, a consortium of three shipping lines which own the ferry, said the fire began on an upper deck. Replying on Friday to questions about the possibility of sabotage, Gina Virtusio, spokeswoman for the consortium, said the owners were "leaning towards that issue". The military is battling four Muslim rebels groups in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic country. It is also fighting communist rebels in various parts of the country. Rebels have been blamed for bomb attacks in the capital as well as various other towns and cities across the country, particularly in the south. The shipping firm said of 899 people on board, some 788 were rescued. It listed one dead and 110 missing. The coastguard appealed to authorities in towns around Manila Bay to report the appearance of survivors, many of whom were picked up by fishing boats after they jumped into the sea to escape the flames. In the world's worst peacetime shipping disaster, more than 4,300 people were killed in a collision between the ferry Dona Paz and an oil tanker in Philippine waters just before Christmas in 1987. |
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