Two people DEAD and 100 rescued after ferry sinks in the Philippines:Sekedar Rangkuman Berita PKS

Two people DEAD and 100 rescued after ferry sinks in the Philippines

It is not known how many others were on the boat when it ran into trouble yesterday in rough seas

REUTERS

The MV Maharlika 2 is pictured while undergoing repairs near Lipata Port in Surigao city in southern Philippines in this December 17, 2013

Two people have died and 100 have been rescued after a ferry sank in rough seas in the central Philippines.

It is not known how many others were on the boat when it ran into trouble yesterday after listing and being lashed by strong wind and waves whipped up by a storm north of its path, officials said.

Coast guard Captain Joseph Coyme said search and rescue efforts by air and sea would continue because it was unclear how many passengers and crew were on the MV Maharlika II.

About 100 survivors have been rescued by two passing foreign ships and another ferry deployed for rescue operations by the company that owned the Maharlika.

That figure is way beyond the 58 passengers and 26 crew that the Maharlika's skipper reported in the distress call to the coast guard, Mr Coyme said.

The ferry, MV Maharlika 2, with at least 100 passengers and crew on board sank near the Southern Leyte Province

'There are discrepancies in the numbers and we cannot terminate the search and rescue until we're sure that everybody has been accounted for,' Mr Coyme told reporters on the phone from the central city of Surigao, where the survivors were taken.

'Every single life is important,' he said.

As he spoke, an air force helicopter flew low overhead to start a search.

Coast guard personnel could be heard using two-way radio to ask civilian ships leaving the Surigao port to 'help look for survivors, life vests' near the scene of the accident and along the coast.

With clear weather in the central provinces south of the storm, the coast guard cleared the Maharlika to leave Surigao city around noon for a regular domestic run.

The skipper sent the distress call a few hours later and several passengers used their mobile phones to call for help when the ferry's steering mechanism malfunctioned and fierce wind and big waves began to batter the stalled vessel, Mr Coyme and other coast guard officials said.

Frequent storms, badly maintained vessels and weak enforcement of safety regulations have been blamed for past accidents at sea in the Philippines, including in 1987 when the ferry Dona Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker, killing more than 4,300 people in the world's worst peacetime maritime disaster.