MANILA: A ferry sank in stormy waters in the central Philippines early Thursday leaving at least 12 people dead and more than 100 missing, the military said. Huge waves rolled over the 400-tonne MV Blue Water as it lay half-submerged near the coast of San Francisco town southeast of Manila as dusk approached, some 12 hours after the accident, with rescue efforts halted, local officials said.

Divers were on standby, waiting for calmer seas before going into the water to check the ferry’s cabins where many of the missing passengers are feared to have been trapped, said Perpetuo Garcia, a local official. “Rescue efforts were halted before midday. They are set to try again before it gets dark,” he said.

“The captain, Virgilio Retardo, interviewed by my lieutenant, said there were 256 passengers and 14 vehicles onboard when the vessel went down,” the regional military spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Rhoderick Parayno said. So far, they had found 129 survivors and 12 bodies, he said. “We can’t be sure of the number of people missing because we don’t know the exact number of the passengers,” he added.—AFP