Philippine coast guard rescue 120 people from flaming ferry

The Philippine coast guard rescued 120 people from a blazing ferry that caught fire while transiting between two islands on Sunday.

Coast guard members aboard another vessel used a water cannon to quell the flames aboard the M/V Esperanza Star, Reuters reported. Such incidents are not uncommon in the Philippines, a country sporting some 7,600 islands and few regulations around maritime safety.

The Esperanza Star was carrying 65 passengers and 55 crew, all of whom were safely off-boarded. The cause of the fire remains a question, however, and officials have not yet specified where the rescued people were taken.

The craft had been operating in the southern Philippines, ferrying passengers from Siquijor island to nearby Bohol island.

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Images from the incident show members of the coast guard surrounding the vessel with smaller craft. The fire was declared extinguished at 2 a.m. local time on Sunday.

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Sunday’s incident comes just months after another ferry caught fire in the country, that one carrying some 250 people. More than two dozen people were killed in that blaze.

PHILIPPINES’ MAYON VOLCANO BEGINS GENTLE ERUPTION, THOUSANDS OF VILLAGERS EVACUATE

The Philippines also suffered a 6.2 magnitude offshore earthquake on Thursday, but there were no casualties reported.

The Philippines experiences regular earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of seismic faults around the ocean.

Mayon Volcano, the Philippines’ most active, is currently erupting, and though it has been gentle so far it has still forced some 18,000 people to flee the area in the northeastern Albay province.