29 fatalities after MV fire Lady Mary Joy 3 in the Philippines

On Wednesday evening, a fire broke out on the ferry on the southern island of Basilan MV Lady Mary Joy 3. At the time of the fire, many passengers slept in air-conditioned cabins on the lower deck.

As a result of this tragic event, 29 people lost their lives, including a 6-month-old child. 11 people, including 3 children drowned after jumping off a burning ship, and 18 people died in flames aboard the unit. Rescuers are now searching for any survivors.

So far the investigators have failed to determine the cause of the fire on the ferry. MV Lady Mary Joy 3Which blew up on Wednesday around 11:00 a.m. local time. The Filipino authorities reported that there were 225 people aboard the ship, including 36 crew members. Unofficial reports indicate that this number may be much higher.

The Philippines is an archipelago consisting of over 7600 islands. Unfortunately, this country is famous for its low quality maritime safety, and ships are often overloaded and insufficiently secured. Similar tragedies had already occurred, including the May 2022 disaster, when at least seven people were killed in the ferry fire.

In 1987, the Philippines witnessed one of the largest sea disasters in peacetime when it overloaded ferry passenger Dona Paz It collided with a tanker off the coast of Mindoro Island, resulting in approximately 5,000 deaths.

While traveling from Leyte Island to the capital of the Philippines, Manila, ferry Dona Paz carrying passengers was very crowded – there were at least 2,000 people on board who were not included in the ship's manifest. During the investigation, it was detected that the ship did not have a radio and that access to life jackets was difficult.

Source: Reuters