Manila, Philippines, 26 Jan

A ferry with more than 350 people on board sank in the southern Philippines after midnight, with rescuers saving at least 215 passengers and recovering 15 bodies, officials said Monday.

The M/V Trisha Kerstin 3, an inter-island cargo and passenger ferry, was sailing to southern Jolo island in Sulu province from the port city of Zamboanga with 332 passengers and 27 crew members when it apparently encountered technical problems and sank, said coast guard officials. The officials also provided the figures on passengers rescued and bodies retrieved.

Mujiv Hataman, governor of the island province of Basilan near where the ferry capsized, told The Associated Press that passengers and two bodies were brought to Isabela, the provincial capital.

“I'm receiving 37 people here at the pier. Unfortunately, two are dead,” Hataman said from the Isabela pier.

Search and rescue efforts were being done in good weather off Basilan province by the Philippine coast guard and navy, along with a fleet of fishing boats.

Sea accidents are common in the Philippine archipelago because of frequent storms, badly maintained vessels, overcrowding and spotty enforcement of safety regulations, especially in remote provinces.

In December 1987, the ferry Dona Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker in the central Philippines, killing more than 4,300 people in the world's worst peacetime maritime disaster.