More than 80 people were rescued from an inter-island ferry that caught fire in the <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/philippines/" target="_blank">Philippines</a> on Saturday. Officials said the vessel <i>Asia Philippines</i> caught fire as it approached the port of Batangas, south of Manila. Two passengers are still unaccounted for, but it was unclear if they are missing or had been rescued but left without notifying authorities, the coast guard said. One of the rescued passengers told local media that the ferry was about a mile away from the port when a fire broke out on the second deck. Maritime accidents are common in the Philippines due to frequent storms, overcrowding, poorly enforced safety regulations and badly maintained boats. In May, seven people were killed when a <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/asia/2022/05/23/philippine-ferry-fire-claims-at-least-seven-lives/" target="_blank">fire broke out</a> on a high-speed ferry in Quezon province, about 60 kilometres from Manila on the island of Luzon. The <i>Mercraft 2 </i>had been carrying 134 people, the coast guard said at the time. In 1987, about 5,000 people died in the world's worst peacetime shipping disaster after an overloaded passenger ferry, the <i>Dona Paz</i>, collided with an oil tanker off Mindoro island, south of Manila. <i>- with inputs from Associated Press</i>
