Philippine firefighters on Friday managed to board a burned-out ferry more than a day after the ship caught fire on its way from Manila to the western province of Palawan, killing five people and leaving more than 80 missing.

Thick smoke and extreme heat had prevented firefighters from boarding the ferry, which a manifest said was carrying 117 passengers and 17 crew members when it was engulfed in flames on Wednesday night.

The Philippine Coast Guard revised the number of missing from 86 to 84 after authorities verified two people originally listed on the manifest had not been on board. The number of people rescued stood at 43.

Aerial footage showed a Coast Guard helicopter hovering above the burned ferry, whose upper decks were blackened by fire. While light smoke continued to rise from parts of the vessel, it was noticeably thinner than the thick plumes seen a day earlier. Two firefighters could be seen on an upper deck.

Richard Marceliano, one of the survivors, told GMA News he saw a small amount of smoke that quickly turned into a raging fire and spread through the ferry within seconds. He said he and other passengers spent nearly two hours floating in the sea before they were rescued.

‘IT HURTS SO MUCH’

As the search continued, stories of those still unaccounted began to emerge, highlighting the anguish of families waiting for answers.

A trip meant to celebrate a renewal of wedding vows has instead brought grief and uncertainty for Jonnsban Tibay, 60, who fears his wife, Eden, was among those trapped on the ferry.

The couple was on a video call as the fire broke out. “She said, ‘We’re leaving now.’ I told her not to hang up and that we should keep the video call going. I was about to ask her to join our prayer when the call suddenly cut off,” he said.

Tibay does not believe his wife was able to escape the ship.

“I’m 100 per cent certain she didn’t jump. She must have been trapped,” he said. “She was diabetic and physically weak. She was no longer as agile as before.”

“It hurts so much,” Tibay said. “My two children can’t stop crying. If not for this trip, my wife would not have gone home.”

At a port in Coron, Myra Bilan, whose sister and brother-in-law were among the missing, sobbed as she spoke to someone on the phone about their fate. Bilan, 47, said the couple had been travelling to Palawan to deliver beds as part of the family’s business.

“My sibling is among those missing. I hope our government takes action. So many people have died,” she said. “I hope they don’t turn a blind eye to poor families like us.”

Outside the office of shipowner Atienza Inter-Island Ferries in Manila, frustrated relatives of missing passengers waited for information about their loved ones after failing to get updates from the company by phone.

Evelyn Umpad, 64, said she went to the shipowner’s office after the company failed to answer her repeated calls seeking information about her son and daughter-in-law, who were travelling to the town of Taytay in Palawan to buy land.

“We kept calling but nobody was answering. They took my number and said they would call back, but no one contacted us, so we came here ourselves to find out the situation,” Umpad said. “My appeal is for them to take action and keep us updated.”

The ferry company has said it was fully cooperating with government authorities investigating the incident.

CAUSE REMAINS UNCLEAR

The Coast Guard has deployed five vessels and divers to the area, while army rescue boats, fishermen and private resort owners continued to assist in the search that began on Wednesday night. Coast Guard spokesperson Commodore Noemie Cayabyab said the Coast Guard would also deploy a larger vessel.

It remained unclear what started the blaze, which broke out as the ferry neared the end of its more than 20-hour voyage to Coron, a popular tourist spot in northern Palawan. A statement from the Maritime Industry Authority, citing survivor accounts, said two successive explosions were heard from within the ship, which triggered the fire.

The ferry, with capacity for 330 people, was also carrying five motorcycles, an electric vehicle, a forklift, a pickup truck and mostly cargo goods, according to the Coast Guard.

Ferry travel is a common mode of transport in the Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,600 islands, where millions of people rely on boats to travel between provinces.

The country has a patchy maritime safety record, and many previous ferry disasters have been linked to overcrowding, rough weather and lax enforcement of safety regulations.