More than 40 hours after a deadly ferry fire began, Philippine rescuers have boarded the charred remains of the MV June Aster in search of dozens of missing people.
Five people been found dead, while 43 people have been rescued, many of whom are receiving treatment in hospital. Eighty-four people remain missing.
Photos shared by the Philippine Coast Guard on Friday morning showed smoke still curling from the ferry, which had been travelling from the capital Manila to the island of Coron – though the plumes appear to have died down in fresh photos from Friday afternoon.
Officials struggled to board the hull since operations began on Wednesday because of the toxic fumes and heat.
They finally got on at about 11:30 local time (03:30 GMT) on Friday, the coast guard said.
“The biggest challenge for us really is to penetrate the ship [as] there is still a visible, thick smoke,” the coastguard’s spokeswoman Noemie Cayabyab told the BBC earlier.
“No matter how we try to push through, high temperatures and toxic smoke remain a severe risk to our personnel,” she told local media earlier.
Smoke resulting from incomplete burning contains dense, lethal concentrations of carbon monoxide.
Earlier, authorities reported that 86 were still unaccounted for, but as of Friday morning, the figure stood at 84 – two passengers whose names were on the ship’s manifest did not go onboard, authorities say.
Rescuers have widened their search area, Cayabyab says, adding that the coastguard has deployed one of its largest ships and done radio broadcasts to vessels in the area. The search teams are also accompanied by divers and nurses.
A local diver in Coron told the BBC on Friday that he and his team were on standby to help out and awaiting instructions from the coast guard.
The coast guard also conducted an aerial survey of waters near the disaster site.
The plan is to resume firefighting efforts, first from the cargo hold of the ferry, which is the compartment where containers and or goods are stored, Cayabyab said.
Earlier, the coastguard said preliminary interviews with the survivors suggest that was where the fire started. Some passengers were not wearing life vests, they noted.
A survivor who was hauled to safety on a rescue boat had described the frantic cries on board the passenger-cargo vessel when the fire erupted on Wednesday evening.
Roland Lerma recalled falling while scrambling to get off the burning boat.
“When I was on the floor, people were trampling me,” the 30-year-old told the BBC.
He started crawling until he could find his footing again, before leaping off the vessel into the sea. Lerma said he saw children who had also jumped in the water, though he could not make out their faces in the dark.
“It was cold [in the sea] If the rescue had been delayed, I would definitely have died,” he said.
The ferry, which set off from Manila, was nearing its destination at the tourist hotspot of Coron, in the province of Palawan, when it caught fire.
The Philippines’ maritime authority is investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.
The ferry, built in 2002, held valid safety certificates and passed an enforcement inspection in March, but investigators are looking into potential manifest discrepancies, cargo loading integrity, and crew emergency response protocols, the Palawan Daily reported.
Atienza Interisland Ferries, the vessel’s operator, has pledged full cooperation with the inquiry.
“Our hearts remain with the affected families, and we will not rest until all individuals are accounted for,” the company said in a statement on Thursday.
