At least 26 people are still missing after the 33-tonne, wooden-hulled Kim Nirvana tipped over in unexplained circumstances about half an hour after setting sail from Ormoc city at midday, the coast guard said.
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The boat carrying 189 passengers overturned suddenly minutes after leaving the port of Ormoc.
Perez said the weather bureau continues to monitor the tropical storm with worldwide name Chan-Hom and another low pressure area outside the Philippine area of responsibility.
SURVIVORS. Filipino survivors react after being rescued from a motorized boat that capsized off Ormoc City, Leyte province, Philippines, July 2, 2015.
Tinampay said there had been 34 fatalities and 30 people were still missing.
Among the almost 200 passengers were at least three Americans and a Canadian who were rescued Thursday. A retired firefighter and emergency medical technician, Drake said he also saved an 8-year-old boy and the woman’s pregnant daughter.
Drake says he saw several bodies around him in the water as he tried to save people.
“The passengers would have been farmers or fishermen, or ordinary businessmen – common folks”, he said.
A report on Manila radio said 21 people were missing.
“It rolled while attempting to turn around swiftly”.
Drake said he ran to one side of the boat to try to balance it but it was too late.
TV footage showed coast guard rescuers and army soldiers carrying survivors from rubber boats to a beach.
It is a low tide now and the bottom part of the boat’s hull is visible above the water.
ABC News reported that many of M/B Kim Nirvana’s crew and passengers were rescued.
Naij.com gathered that rescue operations were ongoing, as navy divers are still in the water, seeking survivors and the lost.
Others were able to swim to the shore, which is approximately 200 meters away from the capsized boat. They said winds in the Ormoc region were not strong enough to whip up unsafe waves.
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The disaster-plagued Philippines is hit by about 20 typhoons each year, many of them deadly.
