MANILA: The Philippine coast guard rescued all 67 people from a ferry boat that struck a floating object and took on water Thursday off a northeastern province, in the second ferry accident to hit the country in a week, officials said.
A passenger on the Jovelle Express 3 managed to contact a coast guard station for help when the vessel was damaged after slamming into an unspecified object around midday off Polillo island in Quezon province, the coast guard said.
The 60 passengers and seven crew members were brought to Polillo and were awaiting another boat to take them to their destination in Quezon.
Last week, at least 27 people died when an overcrowded ferry boat flipped over in Laguna de Bay minutes after leaving Binangonan town southeast of the capital, Manila. Strong winds had lashed the boat sparking panic among many passengers, who moved to one side of the wooden boat and caused it flip over, the coast guard and police said.
More than 40 other passengers and crew members on the Aya Express were rescued, the coast guard said.
Criminal charges have been filed against the wooden-hulled boat’s skipper, his two crew, the owner and a coast guard officer who allowed the overloaded ferry to sail.
The skipper acknowledged that he knew the ferry was over capacity but told authorities he could not convince the excess passengers to disembark, coast guard officials said.
Sea accidents are common in the Philippines because of frequent storms, poorly maintained boats, overcrowding and weak enforcement of safety regulations.
In December 1987, the ferry Dona Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker, killing more than 4,300 people in the world’s worst peacetime maritime disaster.
Philippine coast guard rescues 67 people from damaged boat in the second ferry accident in a week
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Philippine coast guard rescues 67 people from damaged boat in the second ferry accident in a week
- Passenger on the Jovelle Express 3 managed to contact a coast guard station for help when the vessel was damaged after slamming into an unspecified object
Russian drone attack forces power cuts in Ukraine’s Kryvyi Rih, military says
- Kyiv says the campaign has forced rolling outages and emergency cuts to cities across the country, as repair crews work under fire and Ukraine relies on air defenses and electricity imports to stabilize the grid
KYIV: Russian drones struck infrastructure in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih on Wednesday, forcing emergency power blackouts for more than 45,000 customers and disrupting heat supplies, military administration head Oleksandr Vilkul said.
“Please fill up on water and charge your devices, if you have the chance. It’s going to be difficult,” Vilkul said on the Telegram messaging app.
Water utility pumping stations switched to generators and water remained in the system, but there could be pressure problems.
The full scale of the attack was not immediately known. There was no comment from Russia about the strike.
Russia has repeatedly struck Ukraine’s power plants, substations and transmission lines with missiles and drones, seeking to knock out electricity and heating and hinder industry during the nearly four-year war.
Kyiv says the campaign has forced rolling outages and emergency cuts to cities across the country, as repair crews work under fire and Ukraine relies on air defenses and electricity imports to stabilize the grid.
Kryvyi Rih, a steel-and-mining hub in the Dnipropetrovsk region and President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown, has been hit repeatedly, with strikes killing civilians and damaging homes and industry.
The city sits close enough to southern front lines to be within strike range, while its factories, logistics links and workforce make it economically important and a key rear-area center supporting Ukraine’s war effort.
