6 reported dead in boat fire off Basilan

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Six ferry passengers perished when a boat sailing from Zamboanga City to Jolo, Sulu caught fire off Basilan Wednesday night, the Bangsamoro regional police said.

In an initial statement to the media Thursday morning, the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region said that more than a hundred passengers of the M/V Lady Mary Joy 3 were rescued by emergency responders.

The PRO-BAR, citing initial reports from the Basilan Provincial Police Office, said local government officials in the island province have reported that six passengers of M/V Lady Mary Joy perished in the incident. Their identities have yet to be disclosed.

PRO-BAR said a fire of still undetermined origin broke on the boat while it was in the municipal seas of Hadji Muhtamad town in Basilan.

Responders from the Hadji Muhtamad local government unit, the Basilan provincial police, the Lamitan City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, the Philippine Coast Guard and units of the Army's 101st Infantry Brigade managed to rescue most of the passengers, some of them immediately rushed to hospitals for examination.