Philippine ferry fire leaves at least 5 dead and over 80 missing off Palawan

Fire breaks out off Palawan coast

A fire broke out aboard the passenger ferry MV June Aster on Wednesday evening, 9 September 2026, as the vessel approached the island of Palawan in the western Philippines. The ship was traveling on a domestic route from Baseco in Manila toward the island municipality of Coron. Maritime emergency responders received distress alerts after the vessel caught fire approximately 1.2 nautical miles northeast of Barangay Marcilla in Coron, approximately one hour before reaching its destination port. According to official manifest documentation from maritime authorities, 134 people were on board the ferry, consisting of 117 passengers and 17 crew members. Video recordings released by the Philippine Coast Guard showed large sections of the vessel fully engulfed in flames while thick smoke billowed across the open water.

Nighttime search and rescue operations

The Philippine Coast Guard initiated immediate search and rescue operations following the alert, sending emergency vessels and maritime personnel into the surrounding waters. Rescuers operating with flashlights throughout the night retrieved passengers from the sea and transported multiple injured survivors to local hospitals for urgent medical care. Coast Guard officials confirmed that at least five people lost their lives in the disaster, with emergency workers transferring recovered bodies ashore in specialized bags. Official rescue tallies recorded that between 42 and 43 individuals were safely brought to land during the initial hours of the operation.

Based on the information we have available regarding the people who were rescued (42) and the deceased (5), we still have 87 people reported missing.

Dozens unaccounted for as searches continue

Extensive search operations continued across the area into Thursday morning, 10 September 2026, while the vessel remained burning at sea. With between 86 and 87 individuals remaining unaccounted for, the Philippine Coast Guard noted that casualty and missing numbers could fluctuate as maritime searches widened. A disaster management worker involved in the operation described the scenes to the BBC as truly heartbreaking, noting that an emergency of this scale was the first he had encountered in Coron. Relatives of passengers gathered at docks and checked local medical facilities for information about missing family members. Among those reported missing was a family traveling with a three-year-old girl, returning to El Nido after attending a funeral in Luzon, while other families posted online appeals to locate loved ones.

Regional maritime transit and investigation

Authorities commenced a formal investigation to determine the origin of the blaze, which remained unidentified during initial search efforts. Coron is a widely visited tourism destination in Palawan province, known among international and domestic tourists for its limestone formations, coastal waters, and World War II shipwrecks that serve as diving sites. Ferry transit serves as a primary mode of transportation across the Philippine archipelago of thousands of islands, where maritime incidents occur periodically on inter-island routes. Severe shipping accidents in the immediate vicinity of Coron are rare, and response teams focused resources on locating survivors across the designated search sector.