Philippines ferry Thomas Aquinas sinks at Cebu
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
Continue reading the main story Related Stories
At least 26 people have died and more than 200 are missing after a ferry collided with a cargo ship and sank off the Philippines.
The MV Thomas Aquinas was in collision with the cargo vessel on Friday evening near the central city of Cebu, officials said.
The ship was carrying 752 passengers and 118 crew, according to latest coast guard figures.
The incident took place around 2km (1.2 miles) from the shore.
The ferry was sailing into the port at Cebu - the country's second biggest city - when it collided with the cargo ship travelling the other way at about 21:00 local time (13:00 GMT).
"The impact was very strong," Rachel Capuno, a spokesperson for the owners of the ferry, told local radio.
Survivors said hundreds of passengers jumped into the ocean as the ferry began taking on water and listing. The crew distributed life jackets.
The damage to the cargo ship was clearly visible
Many of the passengers were asleep and others struggled to find their way in the dark, reports said.
One survivor, Jerwin Agudong, said he and other passengers jumped overboard in front of the cargo vessel.
"It seems some people were not able to get out," Mr Agudong told radio station DZBB. "I pity the children. We saw dead bodies on the side, and some being rescued."
The ferry sank within 30 minutes of the collision, the AFP news agency reports.
Rear Admiral Luis Tuason of the coast guard said navy divers recovered at least four more bodies from the wreck early on Saturday.
"There could be more bodies there but there were ropes inside that our divers could get entangled in," he said.
The coast guard is to send more divers with deep-water equipment to help recover bodies, he added.
Another coast guard official told reporters that the cargo ship, Sulpicio Express 7, had 36 crew members on board, but it did not sink.
Continue reading the main story PHILIPPINE FERRY DISASTERS 1987: Dona Paz ferry sinks after colliding with a fuel tanker, 4,341 people die.
2008: The ferry MV Princess of the Stars capsizes during a typhoon, killing nearly 800.
Passengers on the ferry had embarked at Nasipit in the southern province of Agusan del Sur.
The coastguard and some commercial vessels were able to pick up more than 600 survivors.
The 11,000 tonne ferry was 40 years old, and operated by a Chinese-owned company called 2Go, reports the BBC's South East Asia Correspondent Jonathan Head.
The company became the largest ferry operator in the Philippines three years ago, following a merger of several smaller firms, our correspondent adds.
Joy Villages, an official at the coastguard's public affairs office headquarters in Manila, told AFP it was too early to determine the cause of Friday's collision.
She said the Thomas Aquinas was a "roll-on, roll-off" ferry that allows vehicles to be driven aboard and is commonly used in the Philippines.
Maritime accidents are common in the Philippine archipelago because of tropical weather, badly maintained passenger boats and weak enforcement of safety regulations.
The world's worst maritime disaster in peacetime occurred in the Philippines in December 1987. More than 4,000 people died when the Dona Paz ferry collided with a tanker.
Karte der Philippinen
 Bei einem Fährunglück am Freitag sind nahe der Hafenstadt Talisay in der philippinischen Provinz Cebu nach Angaben von Behörden mindestens 34 Menschen ums Leben gekommen. 

Freitag gegen 21:00 Uhr Ortszeit kollidierte die Fähre „St. Thomas of Aquinas“ mit dem Frachtschiff „Sulpicio Express 7“ und sank daraufhin innerhalb von 30 Minuten. Mehr als 620 der Passagiere, die sich auf der Fähre befunden hätten, seien jedoch rechtzeitig aus dem Wasser gerettet worden, so die Küstenwache. Laut Konteradmiral Luis Tuason sei es wegen des schnellen Sinken des Schiffs wahrscheinlich, dass viele Menschen in dr Fähre untergegangen seien.  Ursprünglich wurden 170 Menschen vermisst, diese Zahl wurde von den Behörden nach Berechnungsfehlern auf 85 gesenkt. Starker Seegang erschwert den Einsatz der Rettungs- und Suchtrupps, wie die Polizei mitteilt. Es ist unklar, wie viele Passagiere sich an Bord befanden. Der Schiffseigner 2Go Group spricht von 841 Passagieren. Verkehrsminister Abaya und die Küstenwache sprechen wiederum von 715 Passagieren und 116 Besatzungsmitgliedern. Die 36 Menschen, die sich an Bord des Frachters befanden, blieben alle unversehrt. Die Unfallursache ist unterdessen immer noch unbekannt. 

Die 11.000 Tonnen schwere, 40 Jahre alte RoRo-Fähre war von der südphilippinischen Provinz Agusan del Norte über Cebu unterwegs in die philippinische Hauptstadt Manila. Das Schiff ist in dem aus mehr als 7.100 Inseln bestehenden Inselstaat Philippinen das Haupttransportmittel. Unfälle sind wegen der mangelnden Sicherheitsstandards oder Überbeladung von Schiffen keine Seltenheit. Das Schiff gehörte dem chinesischen Unternehmen 2Go Group, das nach dem Zusammenschluss verschiedener kleinerer Betreiber seit drei Jahren der größte Betreiber von Fähren auf den Philippinen ist.