Two killed after passenger ferry sinks off Philippines coast

Two people were killed and over 100 others rescued from the water after a ferry sank off the coast of central Philippines, authorities said Sunday.

"Based on our initial report, two people died and 102 others were rescued by three vessels, including two foreign commercial ships," Commander Armand Balilo told reporters.

"We are not sure how many are still missing because it now appears there were more people on board."

Although only 84 passengers and crew were listed on the ship's manifest, it is common practice in the Philippines for some passengers to board ferries unlisted.

The ship was also loaded with 13 vehicles, but the manifest did not show the drivers' names.

The vessel, Maharlika II, is believed to have suffered mechanical problems before strong waves swept it off course, forcing passengers to abandon ship near the island of Leyte, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRM) said in a statement.

Three ships, including a foreign-registered liquefied petroleum gas carrier, rushed to the area where the ferry was.

"Rescue boats had trouble reaching them because the waves were really huge," NDRRM spokeswoman Mina Marasigan said.

The ferry had reported "problems with steering" and had also been buffeted by heavy rains, worsened by Typhoon Kalmaegi, which is approaching the northern Philippines, Marasigan said.

Scores, sometimes hundreds, of people die each year in ferry accidents in the Philippines, an archipelago of 7,100 islands with a notoriously poor record for maritime safety.

Frequent accidents in the Philippines have claimed hundreds of lives in recent years, including the world's worst peacetime maritime disaster in 1987 when the Dona Paz ferry collided with an oil tanker, leaving more than 4,300 dead. 

Wire services