Philippines ferry capsize kills 38

Manila

A ferry loaded with nearly 200 people capsized off a central Philippines port yesterday, officials said, killing at least 38 people in the latest of the country's long string of maritime tragedies.

Up to 33 people are missing after the 33-tonne, wooden-hulled Kim Nirvana tipped over shortly after setting sail from Ormoc city at midday, the coast guard said.

Vegetable trader Reynante Manza, 45, cried as he recounted how the 33-tonne vessel suddenly rolled to one side as it reversed course shortly after backing out of the pier of Ormoc, pulling down his wife and many others under the water.

"It rolled while attempting to turn around swiftly. I am alive because I jumped overboard as soon as it happened," Manza told reporters.

Just a small section of the boat's underbelly, surrounded by rescue boats, was visible above water by late afternoon, according to an AFP photographer.

It bobbed above the waves a mere 200 metres (656 feet) from the shore, journalists on the scene said, much closer than the one-kilometre (half-mile) estimate made by local disaster officials earlier.

Rescuers pulled 118 survivors from the sea and continue to scour the deep waters where the accident happened, said Philippine National Red Cross chief Richard Gordon told AFP.