The Coast Guard said seven people died in Monday’s fire on a Philippine high-speed ferry carrying 134 people, and seven passengers were still missing.
The MV Mercraft 2 caught fire just before reaching the port of Real in Quezon province, about 60 kilometres (37 miles) east of the capital Manila.
The coast guard said that only five women and two men had died, while 120 passengers were rescued, and 22 were treated for injuries. Footage shared by the Coast Guard shows people wearing life jackets floating in the sea awaiting rescue, while some are brought to safety by a cargo ship in the area. Flames and thick smoke engulfed the double-decker passenger ship.
Pictures shared by the coast guard showed people in life vests floating at sea awaiting rescue, while some were taken to safety by a cargo ship in the area.
The cause of the fire was not immediately clear, but the Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,600 islands, has poor marine safety.
Ships are often old and overcrowded. When the overloaded passenger ferry Donna Paz collided with an oil tanker off the coast of Mindoro Island, south of Manila, in 1987, the world’s worst peacetime shipping tragedy occurred.