A passenger ferry caught fire overnight in the southern Philippines, killing at least 28 people, officials said on Thursday.
The Philippine Coast Guard said the ship was at sea near the southern island province of Basilan when the fire broke out on Wednesday night. The cause of the fire was not immediately clear, and the coast guard said an investigation was underway.
Officials initially said at least 10 people had died and another 230 had been rescued. By Thursday afternoon, they had found 18 more bodies on the ferry.
It is unclear if any more people are missing, in part because officials have yet to determine how many people were on the ferry. The Lady Mary Joy 3 was allowed to carry 240 passengers and crew, but it appeared there were others on board who were not on the list, said Rejard Marfe, a coast guard official.
Such discrepancies are not uncommon in the Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,100 islands, where ships often carry more people than their official passenger lists.
Traveling by sea is the cheapest mode of transportation in the Philippines and maritime accidents happen quite often. Last year, seven people died after Ferry carrying 124 passengers caught fire shortly after departing from Polillo Island, east of the Philippine capital Manila. More than a hundred others were rescued.
