Philippine authorities began the painstaking process of ‌identifying victims from a ferry fire on Saturday (September 12, 2026), a day after ​responders recovered bodies from the burned-out vessel, raising the death ⁠toll to at least 35 and leaving more than 50 people missing.

The bodies were transported to a port in Coron town, where temporary tents were set up for forensic teams ‌to process and identify the victims.

Near the port, some family members anxiously watched as responders in protective suits carried black body bags ‌from a Coast Guard vessel to temporary tents.

One of them was Anelyn ‌Magbanua, ⁠37, whose husband was returning to Coron after visiting their children ⁠in Manila when the ferry, which was carrying more than 130 people, caught fire near the end of its more than 20-hour journey.

“I hope he is not among the dead being brought ​off the ship. I hope he ‌is alive and has only drifted to another island,” she said.

“It will be very difficult to accept if he’s really gone,” she said. “He loved his children very much.”

Firefighters entered the ferry for the first time on Friday (September 11) after ‌extinguishing the blaze more than a day after it broke out, giving ​authorities access to areas that had been hard to reach because of thick smoke and extreme heat. The Coast Guard said burnt ⁠remains were discovered in the ferry’s economy accommodation section.

Images released by the Coast Guard showed the scale of the destruction inside the vessel, with rows of steel ‌bed frames twisted by intense heat and blanketed in ash. Some photographs appeared to show skeletal remains among the debris.

Philippine Coast Guard official Geronimo Tuvilla said at a press conference on Saturday (September 12) that the immediate priority was to identify the victims and determine the cause of the fire.

A statement from the Maritime Industry Authority, citing survivor accounts, said two explosions were heard inside the vessel shortly ‌before the fire broke out.

One survivor interviewed by GMA News recalled seeing a small amount of ​smoke that turned into a fire and quickly spread through the ferry within seconds.

Questions also remained over the fate of the ⁠vessel’s captain. Coast Guard spokesperson Commodore Noemie Cayabyab said at the same press conference that ⁠she had received information that he was alive, but added that the captain’s name was not on the list of 43 confirmed survivors.

The ‌fire is the latest in a string of deadly maritime accidents in the Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,600 islands where millions rely on ​ferries and small boats to travel between provinces and islands.

At least five people were killed and dozens of people missing in a fire that broke out on a passenger ferry in waters off the western Philippines, the Coast Guard said on Thursday (September 10, 2026).

So far, 42 people have been rescued, and efforts are ongoing, so the count of 87 people missing may change, Coast Guard spokesperson Commodore Noemie Cayabyab said in a radio interview.

The ferry, MV June Aster, had sailed from Manila and was near Coron in Palawan province when the fire started on Wednesday (September 9, 2026).

Ms. Cayabyab said that 134 people were on board, 117 passengers and 17 crew.

Images from the scene showed coast guard personnel tossing life jackets to survivors as the ferry burnt in the background. Small boats also took survivors into shallow water.

Ferries are a common transportation method in the Philippine archipelago. Sea accidents are not uncommon due to storms, badly maintained vessels, overcrowding and spotty enforcement of safety regulations, especially in remote provinces.