Passengers on the MV June Aster were thrown into chaos Wednesday night when a fire broke out on the vessel, prompting frantic attempts to escape into the sea.
Roland Lerma, a 30-year-old construction worker from Leyte province, told the BBC from a hospital in Coron that he slipped and fell as the fire spread and passengers rushed for the exits. "When I was on the floor, people were trampling me," he recalled. Lerma crawled until he could regain his footing, then leaped off the ship into the dark water. He said he saw children who had also jumped, though he could not make out their faces in the night.
Once in the water, Lerma shed all his possessions — clothes, phone, bags — to stay afloat. He floated on his back for about two hours before rescuers arrived. "If the rescue had been delayed, I would have definitely died last night," he said.
Lerma had traveled to Manila with five neighbors, boarding the ferry to reach work in Coron, a popular tourist destination in Palawan. Families are anxiously awaiting news of their loved ones as search operations continue.
Shipping accidents are not uncommon in the Philippines, a nation of over 7,000 islands where ferries are a vital mode of transport. The full cause of the fire remains under investigation.