Philippine authorities search for 180 people missing from ferry

MANILA, Philippines -- Rescue crews waited for a smoldering ferry to cool down so divers could thoroughly search the craft Saturday as the number of missing rose to 180.

Fire raced through the Superferry 14 on Friday shortly after it left Manila for central and southern islands, killing one person and injuring 12 others. Witnesses reported a powerful explosion that sparked an inferno.

Officials had initially reported that 100 passengers were missing, but authorities raised that to 180 after a meeting with the ship's owner, WG&A, in which they realized some of the rescued had been counted twice, Coast guard chief Vice Adm. Arthur Gosingan said.

He said officials now have accounted for 565 of the 744 passengers and all but two of the 155 crew members. Most of the survivors jumped into the sea or boarded rescue boats.

"We are still hoping that they are still out there ... and that they will come to us soon and tell us that 'we are here,'" WG&A spokeswoman Gina Virtusio said.

Officials said those missing might have been trapped inside the blazing ferry, or drowned in Manila Bay, and some could have been picked up by fishing boats. The still-smoldering ferry was towed to shallow water but was too dangerous to conduct a thorough search.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said search efforts "will not be called off until all of them are accounted for."

"The authorities will get to the bottom of this incident ... and take steps to ensure it does not happen again," she said in a statement, urging stricter implementation of maritime laws.

Scuba divers so far have found only one body after an initial inspection of the 10,192-ton ship.

Relatives of the missing waited outside Manila's coast guard headquarters to hear any news of their loved ones.

Police and fire investigators, meanwhile, were trying to determine the cause of the fire.

There had been fears that the explosion may have been a terrorist attack linked to life sentences handed down Friday in Manila of two Muslim extremists for kidnapping an American in 2000. But Gosingan said bomb-sniffing dogs checked the ship before it left Manila at 11 p.m. Thursday.

The fire broke out as the ferry, which was headed for the central and southern Philippines, neared Corregidor Island, about 45 miles southwest of Manila.