Rescue workers gained access to the hardest-hit areas of the ferry on Friday after firefighters extinguished the blaze more than a day after it broke out on Wednesday evening near the tourist hotspot of Palawan. Coast Guard officials said burnt remains were discovered in the ferry's economy accommodation section, which had been inaccessible due to thick smoke and extreme heat.

Earlier reports had placed the death toll at 35, but the latest recovery efforts have significantly raised that number. The Maritime Industry Authority, citing survivor accounts, said two explosions were heard inside the vessel shortly before the fire erupted. One survivor told GMA News they saw a small amount of smoke that turned into a fire and quickly spread through the ferry within seconds.

Philippine Coast Guard official Geronimo Tuvilla told a press conference on Saturday that the immediate priority was to identify the victims and determine the cause of the fire. Responders in protective suits were seen carrying black body bags from a coast guard vessel into tents raised at nearby Coron Town, where bodies had been brought for identification.

Anxious family members waited nearby for news of their loved ones. Anelyn Magbanua, 37, whose husband was returning to Coron after visiting their children in Manila when the ferry caught fire, said: "I hope he is not among the dead being brought off the ship. I hope he is alive and has only drifted to another island. It will be very difficult to accept if he's really gone. He loved his children very much."

Questions remain over the fate of the vessel's captain. Coast Guard spokesperson Commodore Noemie Cayabyab said she had received information that he was alive, but added that the captain's name was not on the list of the 43 confirmed survivors.

The fire is the latest in a string of deadly maritime accidents in the Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,600 islands where millions rely on ferries and small boats to travel between provinces and islands.