MANILA (Reuters) - At least 23 people drowned and 26 were missing after a motorboat capsized in high seas off the northern Philippines, officials said on Monday.
Nearly 50 people survived the accident, coast guard commander Wilfredo Tamayo told reporters, adding some were rescued by fishermen from northern Cagayan province.
The boat had left Calayan island at 9:30 a.m. [0130 GMT] on Sunday, but failed to reach Aparri town in Cagayan province, around 400 km north of Manila, as expected at noon.
“It was because of strong currents between Calayan and Aparri,” Melchito Castro, regional director of the government’s disaster coordinating body told reporters.
Coast guard, navy and air force troops have been dispatched to help in the search and rescue operation, Castro said.
Gale warnings were dispatched to coastal towns prior to the ferry sinking, Castro said, as tropical storm Dolphin entered Philippine territory.
The typhoon, currently centred off southeastern Catanduanes, is forecast to move slowly northwest, but not expected to hit land, the weather bureau said.
Philippine maritime disaster.
At least 28 people drowned and were confirmed dead, 46 were rescued, while 34 others remain missing on Sunday, after an overcrowded passenger  capsized off waters in , a town of 17,000 people, the  police reported. 

'M/B Mae Jan', a wooden-hulled , was carrying 102 passengers, after an eight-hour voyage from  in the  for  when it capsized less than 300 meters (984 feet) from its destination, at 8:30 p.m. Its   broke due to strong waves, as it reached the mouth of the  ('Bannag' Rio Grande de Cagayan, 'Ilog ng Kagayan'), along  Linao, about 50 meters from the shoreline of Pallog village.

Divers from the combined teams of the  and  helped in the rescue operations. 11 of the fatalities, including the vessel owner, Arellano, and her daughter were identified. The police said  "there was a possibility that the boat was overloaded," saying that "there was also livestock on board."  Due to "trauma," the ferry's captain refused to talk to police.

The Pinacanauan River, seen just below the , is one of the major tributaries of the Cagayan River.
Meanwhile, the  (PCG) formed a Special Board of Marine Inquiry (SBMI) to investigate the sea tragedy. It ordered the "immediate dispatch of SAR-003 and MCS-3005 vessels and the PCG Islander for aerial surveillance." PCG noted the  possible overloading of the vessel since the boat's franchise authorized it to carry only 40 passengers and 10 crew members.

In November, a  sank in rough seas north of Cagayan, and passing vessels rescued 16 of 20 passengers. Weeks earlier, separate storms sank two passenger vessels in the central Philippines, drowning more than 50 people.

Prior to the ferry sinking, the  had issued  to , of approaching tropical storm "Ulysses" (international codename: Dolphin) from the Pacific with winds of up to 60 miles (95 kilometers) per hour, centered off southeastern , eastern Philippines.