Dozens drown as ferry with 173 on board overturns in the Philippines

Authorities in the Philippines say 36 people are dead and 19 missing, while 118 have been rescued after the boat got into trouble in rough waters. At least seven rescue boats picked up survivors who clung to the overturned hull of the Kim Nirvana, which had 173 passengers on board and was bound for Camotes island in central Cebu province. The ferry capsized around half a mile from port in Ormoc, the city’s disaster risk reduction and management office said. Philippine National Red Cross chairman Richard Gordon said he understood the boat overturned because of high winds. He said Red Cross staff were on the pier in Ormoc assisting those who make it back to shore with blankets and meals. Gwendolyn Pang, secretary-general of the National Red Cross in Manila, described the vessel as a commercial “pump boat” or banka, a canoe-style craft with outriggers and powered by a small engine. Scores, sometimes hundreds of people die every year in ferry accidents in the Philippines, an archipelago of 7,100 islands with a poor maritime safety record.