- Twenty-six people are dead and three missing after a passenger boat capsized in a lake in the Philippines.
- Passengers panicked and gathered on the left side of the boat which was being lashed by strong winds.
- The incident happened hours after Typhoon Doksuri swept out of the northern Philippines.
A small passenger boat capsized in a lake near the Philippine capital on Thursday, killing 26 people on board and leaving three missing, rescuers said.
The wooden outrigger “encountered strong winds prompting all passengers to panic and (go) to the port (left) side,” a coast guard statement said.
It was carrying about 70 people on its regular run from a port in Binangonan municipality to the island of Talim in Laguna lake, near Manila, on Thursday when the accident happened.
Forty people survived.
“The boat had clearance to sail. There was no more storm in the area,” coast guard spokesperson Rear Admiral Armando Balilo told reporters.
The accident happened hours after Typhoon Doksuri had swept out of the northern Philippines.
READ | Don’t underestimate the threat: Taiwan cancels military drills as typhoon approaches
“The boat sank in front of us while on its way home to the island,” said Binangonan resident Frederic Sison, who had been standing at the Kalinawan port when the incident happened.
Rescuers were scouring the lake for the six people still missing hours after the accident, Cirados said.
Video footage of the rescue shared by the coast guard showed a man standing on the hull of the boat that was lying on its side, shouting “There are so many people here”, as small outrigger boats circled trying to help.
Another clip showed two rescuers leaning from the side of a boat to pluck a person who appeared to be unconscious from the calm waters.
Mobile phone footage taken by Sison and shared with AFP showed anxious people standing on the shore watching the boats take part in the frantic rescue effort.
In the video, a young boatman said he saved four people including a disabled person and a girl.
A woman could be seen doing chest compressions on one of several victims laid out on the concrete pier, as men lifted more motionless people out of small boats.
ALSO READ | Northern Italy storms kill two as Sicily fires close airport
Boats, including wooden outriggers and passenger ferries that provide transport between islands, had been ordered to shore in Luzon and central islands earlier in the week due to gale warnings as the typhoon intensified the southwest monsoon.
The Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7 000 islands, has a poor maritime safety record, with scores dying in mishaps at sea each year, usually aboard wooden-hulled outriggers used for fishing or to move people from one small island to another.
#dead #missing #boat #capsizes #Philippine #lake
