31 dead in Philippine ferry collision

Divers combed through a sunken ferry carrying more than 700 passengers Saturday, searching for over 200 people missing after an overnight collision with a cargo vessel near the central Philippine port of Cebu that sent passengers jumping into the sea.

The ferry, on a daylong journey from Nasipit in the southern Philippine province of Agusan del Sur, had been carrying 752 passengers and 118 crew members. At least 31 people, including children, were confirmed dead and 629 were rescued.

The captain of the ferry MV Thomas Aquinas, which had been approaching the port late Friday, ordered the ship abandoned when it began listing and then sank minutes after collision with the MV Sulpicio Express, coast guard deputy chief Rear Adm. Luis Tuason said.

Tuason said 213 people were still missing, with some possibly trapped inside the vessel that sank in about 100 feet of water off Talisay city around 350 miles south of the capital, Manila.

Danny Palmero, a former fisherman, said he and some friends who responded to the ferry's distress call had rescued seven people on their motorized outrigger canoe.

"We just picked up the survivors and left the dead in the water," he said. "I heard screams and crying."

Survivors said hundreds of passengers jumped overboard as the ship started to sink. Many had been asleep and struggled to find their way in the dark, they said.

Rolando Manliguis was watching a live band when "suddenly I heard what sounded like a blast,” he said. “The singer was thrown in front of me." He said he rushed to wake up his wife and their two children as the water quickly rose.

"When the boat was on its side, the water level was here," he said, pointing to his neck. "I thought about my child. It's a good thing that someone helped us immediately."

Maritime accidents are common in the Philippines because of frequent storms, badly maintained craft and weak enforcement of safety regulations. The nation – an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands – relies heavily on ferries for transport.

The ferry Dona Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker in the Philippines in 1987, killing more than 4,341 people in the world's worst peacetime disaster at sea. In 2008 the ferry MV Princess of the Stars capsized during a typhoon in the central Philippines, killing nearly 800 people.

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press