Phillipines, December 24: Four people were killed and 23 missing after two boats collided in darkness near Manila during the Christmas holiday rush, the latest disaster to hit the Philippines in a year of tragedy.
Four bodies, including that of a woman in a life jacket, were pulled out of Manila Bay following the early-hours collision between a flimsy passenger boat and a deep-sea fishing vessel, the coastguard said.
Three of the bodies were found floating near the submerged wreck of the Catalyn B, a wooden-hulled passenger vessel that sank after it rammed into the fishing boat at 2:25 am (1825 GMT Wednesday).
A fourth body was retrieved mid-afternoon, coastguard spokesman Commander Armando Balilo said, giving no further details.
A swift emergency operation in the busy waterway saved 46 people but as dusk approached 13 hours later there were fears that 23 of the 73 people known to be aboard the passenger boat had been trapped while asleep.
“Catalyn B smashed into the side of the fishing vessel,” said the regional coastguard chief, Commodore Luis Tuazon.
“This is a small vessel with a single wooden hull. Water rushed in and the vessel sank not long after the collision,” he told local radio.
“It is clear there was a problem in observing the rules,” he added, saying that one or other of the vessels must have failed to take evasive action to avoid a collision.
Tuazon said a marine inquiry would establish which of the two crews was at fault.
All but one of the crew members are known to have survived, he added.
—Agencies