At least 110 missing in Philippine ferry fire

At least 110 people were missing as darkness fell yesterday after explosions and fire tore through a Philippine ferry, killing one person and sending many into the sea to escape the flames.

"We have not given up hope of finding more survivors but there's also the possibility that some of them were trapped inside the boat," coastguard spokesman Lieutenant Armand Balilo told reporters after at least 766 people were rescued.

Fires raged on parts of the stricken ferry for 12 hours and smoke could be seen rising from the ship yesterday evening.

Rescuers said they would have to wait for up to two days to let the vessel cool down before they could begin searching for bodies. The 155-metre long ship listed onto its right side after being towed from the mouth of Manila Bay to Bataan island.

The coastguard and owners of the Super Ferry 14 disagreed on the number of missing and the number of passengers on board when disaster struck about an hour into the overnight journey from Manila to Bacolod in the central part of this nation of islands.

One person has been confirmed dead, they agree. The coastguard said of 879 passengers and crew on board, 766 were rescued. It listed 112 people as missing, including two crew members. The shipping firm said of 899 on board, some 788 were rescued. It also listed one dead and 110 missing.

The owners disputed the coastguard assessment that the fire started in the engine room, saying it began on an upper deck.

Gina Virtusio, a spokeswoman for the WG&A consortium of three shipping lines that owns the vessel, replied to questions about the likelihood of sabotage by saying the owners were "leaning towards that issue".

"We were already lying down to sleep when we heard a loud bang," passenger Mary Jane Silverio told Reuters on the deck of a coastguard vessel. "We ran like everyone else to the lower part of the ship. Some jumped over the side, but I did not."