10 killed as boat capsizes in Liguasan Marsh

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Ten people drowned and two more went missing after a motorized boat capsized on Monday night in a deep area of the Liguasan Marsh near Sultan sa Barongis, Maguindanao.

Sultan sa Barongis Mayor Allan Angas, chairman of the municipal disaster council, confirmed that they have recovered the cadavers of the 10 fatalities and they were still searching for two missing passengers.

“There were 16 passengers all in all. The victims were from a family gathering and were on their way home to our town,” Angas told The Star via mobile phone.

Angas said the 10 passengers that drowned were recovered one after another by barangay officials and fishermen who helped in the retrieval operations.

Angas said the police, the military and local forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILD) also helped in the rescue mission.

He said that the four passengers who survived have already been sent to their homes by local policemen.

Angas said the overloaded banca was overturned by a sudden gush of water caused by strong winds on the surface of the marsh, a 220,000 hectare delta at the tri-boundary of Maguindanao, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat provinces.