Rescuers retrieved 110 survivors and three bodies from a ferry that sank in rough seas in the eastern Philippines, coast guard and local authorities said on Sunday.
The ferry capsized on Saturday evening after being battered by huge waves off the coastal town of San Ricardo in Southern Leyte province, 700 kilometres south-east of Manila. At least three people were still missing, the coast guard said.
The 30-year-old vessel was carrying more than 100 passengers and crew members, but only 84 people were registered on board, provincial Governor Roger Mercado said.
“Search and rescue operations are still ongoing because some people were not on the ship’s passenger manifest,” he told a Manila television station. “We are still on alert for any missing.” Mr. Mercado said the ferry sent a distress signal after its rudder broke, stalling it amid strong waves and heavy wind.
The accident took place as typhoon Kalmaegi, packing maximum winds of 120 kilometres per hour and gusts of up to 150 kph, barrelled toward the northern Philippines from the country’s east coast. But authorities noted that there was no storm warning over Southern Leyte or Surigao provinces when the accident happened.
The ferry was en route to Surigao City from Liloan town in Southern Leyte, a trip of about three hours. Sea travel is a key mode of transportation in the Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands.
The country was the site of the world’s worst peacetime maritime disaster when a ferry collided with an oil tanker days before Christmas in 1987, killing more than 4,300 people.