Search and rescue operations ongoing after Dapitan-bound passenger ferry catches fire

Search and rescue operations ongoing after Dapitan-bound passenger ferry catches fire
CNN Philippines Staff Aug 28, 2019 https://www.cnnphilippines.com/regional/2019/8/28/Passenger-ferry-fire-D...

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 28) — Search and rescue operations are ongoing hours after a ferry with 137 passengers on board caught fire early Wednesday morning.

Dapitan-bound ship Lite Ferry 16 caught fire hours after it left Cebu on Tuesday night.

Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said 112 people have been rescued so far. They are still looking for the remaining 25 passengers. They added two people were reported unconscious and brought to the hospital.

Zamboanga del Norte PCG Station Commander LTJG Cherry Rose Manaay said rescue operations are hampered by strong winds and current in the area.

There are no reported casualties as of posting, Manaay said. The PCG has yet to investigate the cause of the fire.

Allan Barredo, one of the passengers of another ferry, said their ferry stopped to help rescue passengers who jumped off the vessel on blaze.

He lamented how there was no help from the Philippine Coast Guard in the first four hours of the incident.

"By the way, we are so ill-equipped. We have rescued passengers on board without blankets, shivering... No one from Coast Guard showed up, four hours na," he said in a Facebook message.

Stringer Marlon Panares contributed to this report.