Five Dead, 87 Missing After Philippines Ferry Fire Near Coron

A passenger ferry carrying 134 people caught fire near Coron in the western Philippines, leaving at least five dead and 87 people unaccounted for as rescuers searched the waters off Palawan on Thursday, September 10.

The Philippine Coast Guard said 42 people—38 passengers and four crew members—had been rescued from the MV June Aster. The vessel had departed from Baseco in Manila and was heading toward Coron when the fire broke out at about 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday, September 9.

The Coast Guard’s figures are based on the ship’s manifest, which listed 117 passengers and 17 crew members. Subtracting the 42 rescued and five reported dead leaves 87 people still to be located or identified. Coast Guard spokesperson Commodore Noemie Cayabyab stressed that the count was provisional and could change as the operation continued.

That distinction matters. The 87-person figure is a search gap, not a final casualty total. Authorities still have to verify the manifest, identify survivors and casualties, and determine whether anyone reached shore or was carried away from the fire zone by currents.

Reuters reported that multiple vessels and other Coast Guard assets were deployed, with rescue teams using drift-modelling tools to estimate where people in the water may have been carried. Search conditions were complicated by rough weather and shifting currents, according to reporting from the scene.

Video released by the Coast Guard showed the ferry heavily engulfed in flames as responders worked to assist people from the vessel. Survivors were taken to shore and placed under the care of local authorities in Coron.

The immediate priority is to find anyone who may still be alive. But the operation is also beginning to raise questions about how the fire developed and whether passengers had the equipment and time needed to escape. GMA News reported that the Coast Guard was examining possible violations, including whether the vessel was overloaded and whether passengers were provided with life jackets. Some rescued passengers were reportedly found without life jackets, while others may have jumped overboard as the flames spread.

Officials have not announced the cause of the fire. Investigators will need to establish where the blaze began, how quickly it moved through the vessel, whether alarms and firefighting equipment worked, and how the crew managed the evacuation.

Those questions carry weight in the Philippines, where ferries connect communities across an archipelago of thousands of islands and serve as an essential form of transportation. A disaster at sea can therefore expose weaknesses not only on one ship, but across the systems used to inspect vessels, record passengers, enforce capacity limits and respond to emergencies.

For now, the numbers remain unsettled: five reported dead, 42 rescued and 87 still unaccounted for on the Coast Guard’s latest manifest-based count. The next decisive development will be a verified accounting of the people aboard and whether the search produces more survivors or confirms additional fatalities.