Everyone on board blazing ferry safe

More than 200 people were rescued from a blazing Sulpicio-operated MV Princess of the World off the coast of Zamboanga del Norte slightly before noon yesterday with officials refusing to rule out a militant attack. None of the 213 passengers and crew of the 10,000-gross ton ship, however, was hurt after combined forces of the Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine Navy dispatched rescue operations and a sister Sulpicio ship was dispatched to ferry passengers to the Port of Zamboanga.

The cause of the blaze was unknown, but officials did not rule out the possibility the ferry had been attacked. There are speculative and unverified reports that an explosion was heard at the engine room before the ship caught fire.

Victoriano Go, senior vice president of the Sulpicio Group of Companies, said the MV Princess of the World had left the Port of Iloilo at 6pm on Wednesday. It was scheduled to arrive at the Port of Zamboanga 4pm yesterday when the ship caught fire towards noon, or some five hours before arriving port. Zamboanga Coast Guard station commander Ronnie Gil Ganan said the ship was cruising off the coasts of the municipalities of Santa Maria and Siocon in Zamboanga del Norte when the fire occurred. The ship's officers and crew then helped passengers disembark onto life rafts while rescue was underway.

Both Go and Ganan refuse to believe terrorism is involved after an investigation is done. Ganan said the Coast Guard expedited rescue operations 10 minutes after receiving the distress call at about 12:30 pm. Two ships were dispatched from the Coast Guard's Zamboanga command while one ship was dispatched from Cebu to help in fighting the fire.

When asked about the possibility of fire being caused by an attack, navy spokesman Captain Geronimo Malabanan said, "As of now, I don't want to speculate on that." "We have sent two patrol craft to assist the coast guard in the operations. We have no word on casualties yet," he told Agence France Presse in Manila.

The Philippine Navy joined rescue operations sending two vessels and one chopper while the US Navy that was on a military exercise in Zamboanga also dispatched two fast craft vessels. The rescue team was still fighting the fire off as of 5pm yesterday.

Passengers were brought to the shores of Siocon. The Coast Guard will ferry them on small boats to the Port of Zamboanga, some 57 nautical miles from the municipality of Siocon. Meanwhile, sister ship MV Princess of the Caribbean was dispatched to Zamboanga del Norte.

The MV Princess of the World had a passenger capacity of 1,994 but passenger manifest submitted to the Coast Guard station command in Zamboanga showed 104 passengers and 103 crew and security detail. There were reportedly six sea marshals onboard.