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Associated Press

Rescuers retrieved more remains from a passenger ferry in the Philippines that was gutted by fire, bringing the death toll on Saturday to 76 with 13 missing.
Forty-three people survived the fire on Wednesday night among the 132 on board.
The ferry sailed from the capital, Manila, and was off the village of Turda some 39km (24 miles) from its destination, the Port of Coron, when the fire was reported on Wednesday evening.
The cause of the blaze has not been determined but a survivor said it may have started from the cargo hold. The survivor recounted hearing a blast, with smoke and fire quickly spreading, fanned by the winds, officials said.

Tents were put up in the Port of Borac in Coron, Palawan province, where body bags will be brought down from a ship that transported them from the burned ferry. The coastguard said the bodies will be turned over to the local government, with police officers assisting in identifying the charred remains.
Commodore Noemie Cayabyab, the coastguard spokesperson, said authorities are looking for the ship’s captain, who reportedly survived but is not listed among the survivors.
The multi-agency maritime safety and criminal investigations will look into all angles, and the possible liability of the captain and crew, she added.
Cayabyab said survivors recounted the incident had happened quickly, with no time to get life jackets. A tarpaulin that shielded the open areas of the ship from the rain “may be a possible contributing factor but we can’t determine now if they were trapped inside”, she added.

Investigators will also check if fire emergency procedures were followed, including if the captain sounded an alarm or gave a warning and instructions, and if the crew assisted the passengers.
Images provided earlier by the coastguard showed the charred interior of the ship and what appeared to be human remains, ashes and burnt metal, including a car.
Arnulfo Nokki Villanueva, a survivor who recounted the chaos inside the ferry after the fire quickly spread, told a local news outlet that he could not get a life jacket as people were in a panic and stepping on him.
Lira Daco, whose 20-year-old daughter is missing, said she was pained by the thought that her daughter could have burned alive, and by the difficulty of identifying her among the charred remains found in the ship.
According to the manifest, 134 people were on board, with 117 of them passengers and 17 crew. The 53m (174-foot) vessel had a capacity to carry 306 passengers and 27 crew. Two passengers listed in the manifest reported to authorities that they failed to board, the coastguard said.

Two of the survivors were tourists from Chile, according to Rachel Conserman, a staffer of the ship’s owner Atienza Interisland Ferries. The coastguard said the foreigners have left Coron and authorities have coordinated with their embassy.
The shipping company said in a statement it was assisting those who were on board and their families while coordinating with the coastguard and maritime officials to locate the missing passengers and determine the cause of the fire.
Coron is a popular tourist destination known for clear blue waters, limestone cliffs and rock formations.
Ferries are frequently used for transport 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.
In 1987, the ferry Dona Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker in the central Philippines, killing more than 4,300 people in the world’s deadliest peacetime maritime disaster.


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Rescuers carry the remains of victims of the recent fire on the MV June Aster ferry as they arrive on board a Philippine Coast Guard vessel at the Borac port in Coron, Palawan province, western Philippines on Saturday. Photo: AP

Damaged areas of the ferry MV June Aster on Friday. Photo: EPA

Rescuers carry the remains of victims at the Borac port in Coron, Palawan province, western Philippines on Saturday. Photo: AP

Damaged areas of the ferry MV June Aster. Photo: EPA

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A drone view shows emergency workers accessing the burned MV June Aster ferry off the coast of Palawan, the Philippines, on Friday. Photo: Philippine Coast Guard/Handout via Reuters

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People stand aboard the fire-hit ferry. Photo: Philippine coastguard via Reuters

Bodies from Philippine ferry arrive at port after fire killed at least 76

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}There were 43 survivors among the 132 people on board

There were 43 survivors among the 132 people on board