Two days after a cargo hold fire consumed the M/V June Aster ferry in Philippine waters, thirty body bags arrived at Coron port in Palawan on September 12, as coast guard officials warned that the confirmed death toll of 35 would continue to rise. The fire spread with such ferocity on the evening of September 9 that passengers had no time to don life jackets — leaving 54 people still unaccounted for among a manifest of 134. The disaster is not an isolated tragedy but the latest chapter in a long, recurring story about an archipelago nation of 7,000 islands whose dependence on inter-island ferr
Philippine Ferry Fire Death Toll Reaches 35 as Bodies Arrive for Identification
At least 35 people confirmed dead with 54 missing; survivors had insufficient time to evacuate or don safety equipment as fire spread rapidly through the vessel.