By Ingrid "Shortwave" Frost
The fire found the ferry within sight of the postcard water that draws tourists to Coron. By the time it was out, the boat had gone down off the coast of Palawan, in the Philippines, and the counting began.
The Philippine Coast Guard says the vessel had 134 listed passengers and crew aboard when it caught fire near its destination. Five are confirmed dead. Dozens more are still missing, and coast guard officials have called the scene "heartbreaking," according to the BBC. Video released by the coast guard shows the ferry engulfed in flames.
Details on what sparked the fire have not yet been made public in the reporting available, and search-and-rescue operations were still under way as of Thursday. Palawan, and Coron in particular, is one of the country's busiest tourist draws — a fact that raises the odds that the missing include visitors as well as residents making a routine crossing.
The Philippines has a long, hard history with ferry disasters. Its archipelago geography means boats do the work that roads do elsewhere, often older vessels, often overloaded, often far from the nearest rescue helicopter. This one burned close to shore, which may be the only reason the death toll so far is not worse.
No cause has been confirmed. No agency has yet said whether inspection records or safety equipment aboard the vessel will factor into that answer. Those are the next facts to nail down, and until they are, what's known is grim enough on its own: five dead, dozens unaccounted for, and a coast guard still working the water off Coron.
FILED FROM SOMEWHERE WITH BAD COFFEE —
— Compiled from reporting by Al Jazeera and the BBC.
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