Fire at Sea: 86 Still Missing as Philippine Ferry Burns Off Palawan Coast

MANILA — The MV June Aster was supposed to dock at Coron by 8pm.

It never arrived.

Instead, at 6:45 on Wednesday evening, with the limestone peaks of Palawan visible on the horizon and the journey almost over, fire broke out on board the passenger ferry as it carried 134 people through the western Philippine Sea. Within minutes, the vessel was completely engulfed in flames. By Thursday morning, the coast guard had pulled 43 survivors from the water, confirmed five dead — and was still searching for 86 people who had vanished into the night.

**What the Coast Guard Found**

The MV June Aster, operated by Atienza Shipping Lines on the Manila-to-Coron route, was 2.2 kilometres off Marcilla village — close enough to shore that response teams reached the scene quickly, but not quickly enough for everyone on board.

A staff member on the vessel raised the first alarm. The blaze spread with extraordinary speed. Video footage shared by the Philippine Coast Guard showed the ship entirely consumed by fire, its silhouette barely visible through walls of flame and black smoke. By the time rescue boats arrived, passengers and crew were already in the water.

On Thursday morning, coast guard spokeswoman Commodore Noemie Cayabyab was direct about what the numbers meant. “Based on the data we have right now on rescued and the casualties, we still have 86 to 87 people who are unaccounted for.” A coast guard ship, high-speed response boats, a military vessel and dozens of private volunteers and local fishermen were still combing the sea.

The MV June Aster remained afloat but listing on Thursday, its charred hull smoking in the morning light. The fire was out. The search was not.

**The People They Are Looking For**

On the Facebook page of Coron’s town mayor, the comments arrived in a flood. Hundreds of people — relatives, friends, colleagues — posting names, asking for news, desperately hoping for a response that did not come. One person was searching for a dog.

The 117 passengers and 17 crew members on the MV June Aster were heading toward one of the Philippines’ most beloved tourist destinations — a place of turquoise water, colonial-era shipwrecks and dramatic island scenery that draws visitors from across the world. Many were tourists. Some were Filipinos heading home. All of them were one hour from Coron when the fire started.

A fire responder who carried the dead to hospital overnight told the BBC what the moment felt like. “It’s really heartbreaking,” he said. “They are one hour away from the main port.”

**A Nation With a Painful Maritime History**

Philippine maritime authorities have said they fear this incident could rank among the country’s worst recent ferry disasters — though they cautioned the full toll would only emerge once search operations concluded.

That history is one of the darkest in the world. The 1987 collision of the MV Doña Paz with an oil tanker in the Tablas Strait killed an estimated 4,000 people — the deadliest peacetime maritime disaster in recorded history. More recently, the MV Lady Mary Joy 3 fire off Basilan in 2023 killed 31 people. A 2022 fire off Quezon province killed seven. The cause changes. The pattern does not.

The Philippines is a nation of more than 7,600 islands where ferries are not a leisure option but the only way millions of people move between home, work, family and the places they need to go. When a ferry burns, an entire country feels it.

The sea off Marcilla village was still being searched on Thursday afternoon. Eighty-six families were still waiting for news.

SOURCE BBC NEWS