26 Dead in Philippine Boat Accident

The coast guard said Friday that 26 people had died after a crowded passenger boat overturned in a lake in the Philippines, while the hunt for the missing continued.

On Thursday, the disaster occurred while the wooden outrigger was regularly making its way from a port in the Binangonan municipality to the island of Talim in Laguna lake, close to Manila.

According to the coast guard, panicked passengers moved to one side of the ship during strong gusts, which caused it to capsize. The boat could carry 42 people at once.

Rescuers in boats looked for casualties in the murky water as people on the coast watched in fear.

The coast guard released video of the frenzied rescue operation, showing a guy standing on the boat's hull when it was on its side and yelling, "There are so many people here," while small outrigger canoes circled in an attempt to assist.

Forty individuals made it.

According to official data given on Thursday, three people are still missing.

The disaster occurred hours after Typhoon Doksuri had left the northern Philippines, and the coast guard and police are looking into its cause.

Rear Admiral Armando Balilo, a spokesperson for the Coast Guard, stated on Thursday that the ship was authorized to travel.

Earlier in the week, when the typhoon strengthened the southwest monsoon, boats had been instructed to land in Luzon and the central islands owing to gale warnings.

By Thursday night, the boat had been righted and towed near to land, where its yellow hull was visible in the shallow water.

In order to get the deceased to funeral services, people started putting their coffins on boats in the nighttime.

Numerous individuals perish in marine accidents each year in the Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands, most often when traveling between tiny islands or fishing on wooden-hulled outriggers.