At least seven dead as passenger boat catches fire off the coast of Quezon

QUEZON - At least seven people died while 24 were injured after a passenger boat caught fire off the coast of the province of Quezon on Monday morning, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said.

“Merong pitong patay," PCG spokesperson Commodore Armand Balilo said in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB.

(There are seven who died.)

Five of the fatalities were female and two were male, he added.

Three among those rescued are in critical condition, the PCG said.

Based on a report of the PCG, the actual number of persons aboard the vessel is 134, including eight crew members.

All accounted for

Police Major General Rhoderick Armamento, Southern Luzon area police commander, said all passengers have been accounted for. 

"'Yung pinakalatest 'yung bata narecover na ngayon lang, minutes ago. As of this very moment, 'yung reported na 134 passengers ay accounted na unless na may other reports pa na papasok...kanina isa na lang ang hinahanap natin,
minutes ago narecover na 'yung bata na eight years old," he told Super Radyo dzBB. 

(We have recovered a boy just minutes ago. As of this very moment, the reported 134 passengers are all accounted for unless new reports come in. The eight-year old boy was the last passenger we were looking for and we found him just minutes ago.)

Armamento said the police, local government officials, PCG, municipal disaster risk reduction and management officials are in a meeting to discuss the incident.

Balilo said he cannot divulge yet the name of the passenger vessel as they still need to notify concerned parties.

He said the passenger vessel has a record of a sinking incident.

"Alam ko meron ‘tong lubog dati pero hindi naman ito luma. Itong mga Mercraft, bago ito (From what I know, it has a record of sinking incident but these Mercraft vessels are new),” he said.

According to a report from the local government unit of the municipality of Polillo, the Mercraft 2 boat left the island at 5 a.m. and was headed for the municipality of Real in Quezon.

At past 6 a.m., the boat captain gave the abandon ship command as fire broke out in the sea vessel.

Balilo said the vessel caught fire when it was around 1,000 yards from the Port of Real.

At least six passengers were brought to the nearest hospital so far, Balilo earlier said.

Balilo said the boat was not overloaded based on the passenger manifest they obtained.

Boat Captain John Lerry Escareces has already been located and being treated at Claro M. Recto Hospital due to injury, the PCG said.

According to the PCG, the fire at Mercraft 2, a fiberglass fast craft vessel, was declared under control at 9:33 a.m.

The vessel was towed by MV Triple Kent to the shoreline of Baluti Island, Barangay Cawayan in Real, the PCG added.—KG/AOL, GMA News