Death toll rises to 29 in Basilan ferry sinking as government suspends operator’s entire passenger fleet citing pattern of safety failures

By Paul Morgan (gCaptain) – The death toll from the MV Trisha Kerstin 3 ferry disaster has climbed to 29, Philippine Coast Guard officials confirmed Thursday, as search teams recovered 11 additional bodies from waters near Baluk-Baluk Island where the vessel sank in the early hours of Monday, 26 January.

The escalating tragedy has triggered an unprecedented government response, with Transport Secretary Giovanni Lopez ordering the immediate grounding of the entire passenger fleet operated by Aleson Shipping Lines, the vessel’s owner, citing 32 prior safety incidents involving the company since 2019.

The roll-on/roll-off passenger ferry departed Zamboanga City at 21:20 local time on Sunday evening, bound for Jolo in Sulu province with 314 passengers and 27 crew members aboard. The vessel, which had a maximum authorized capacity of 352, issued a distress call at 01:50 Monday morning, approximately four hours into its journey, after strong waves flooded its lower deck.

According to survivors and crew accounts, vehicle lashings securing cars on the lower deck snapped as waves battered the vessel, causing the vehicles to shift and the ferry to list sharply to starboard. The vessel capsized and sank approximately 2.75 nautical miles northeast of Baluk-Baluk Island in Basilan province, settling in 76 metres of water.

The immediate rescue response brought together coastguard cutters, naval vessels, Air Force Black Hawk helicopters, commercial craft and local fishing boats. In challenging nighttime conditions, rescuers managed to save 316 people from the water. Many survivors described being thrown into the sea without warning as the vessel rapidly capsized, scrambling to find life jackets and flotation devices in darkness and confusion.

“No one from the crew alerted us,” survivor and lawyer Aquino Sajili told reporters. The 53-year-old described passengers racing to one side of the tilting ship in a desperate attempt to rebalance it before hearing “a loud snap” that preceded the vessel’s rapid sinking. Survivors then spent hours in the water awaiting rescue.

The confirmed dead now total 29, including children, with recoveries made possible through the combined efforts of official search teams and local residents combing the coastline. Coast Guard Commandant Ronnie Gil Gavan confirmed that among the 10 people initially reported missing, 11 bodies have now been recovered, suggesting early passenger counts may have been incomplete.

The government’s decision to ground Aleson Shipping Lines’ entire passenger fleet represents one of the most severe regulatory actions taken against a Philippine ferry operator in recent years. Acting Transport Secretary Lopez announced the suspension at a Tuesday press conference, revealing that the company had been involved in 32 maritime incidents over seven years.

“Maritime safety is not negotiable; it is not optional,” Lopez told reporters. “Business considerations are just secondary. Maritime safety will always be the paramount and primordial concern.”

The suspension has created immediate disruption for thousands of daily commuters, traders and patients requiring medical care in Zamboanga City from the island provinces of Basilan and Sulu. Long queues formed at ticketing offices for Montenegro Shipping Lines and Weesam Express as passengers sought alternative transport on routes where Aleson previously operated four daily round trips from both Isabela City and Lamitan City.

Isabela City Mayor Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman acknowledged the hardship but supported the decision. “It is a necessary inconvenience,” she said. “The safety of the people should come first.”

The Maritime Industry Authority has invited other operators to deploy vessels on affected routes and relaxed sailing schedules to allow ships to depart immediately upon reaching capacity rather than adhering to fixed timetables. The Philippine Coast Guard has committed to deploying assets to provide free passage for stranded passengers during the suspension period.

This marks the second fatal disaster for Aleson Shipping Lines in less than three years on virtually the same route. On 29 March 2023, the company’s MV Lady Mary Joy 3 caught fire approximately 3.5 nautical miles from Baluk-Baluk Island while sailing from Zamboanga City to Jolo, killing 29 passengers and crew with seven missing. That blaze, attributed to electrical faults in an air-conditioned cabin, raised questions about the company’s safety protocols and crew training.

The proximity of both disasters to Baluk-Baluk Island and the identical route has intensified scrutiny of both the operator’s procedures and government oversight of the domestic shipping sector.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered a full investigation into the latest sinking, with Lopez directing the Maritime Industry Authority and Coast Guard to complete a comprehensive maritime safety audit of Aleson’s fleet and crew within 10 days. The investigation will examine whether vehicle securing procedures, passenger manifest accuracy, crew training and emergency protocols met required standards.

Lopez has also ordered a wider risk-based compliance audit of the entire Philippine domestic passenger fleet, a challenging undertaking given MARINA’s limited resources and approximately 16,000 vessels operating across the archipelago.

Ferry accidents remain a persistent safety challenge in the Philippines, where more than 7,000 islands necessitate extensive inter-island shipping for millions of passengers annually. The sector has long struggled with aging vessels, inconsistent maintenance, manifest inaccuracies and uneven enforcement of safety regulations, particularly on routes serving remote provinces.

The 1987 collision between the ferry Doña Paz and an oil tanker, which killed more than 4,300 people, remains the world’s deadliest peacetime maritime disaster and continues to symbolize the ongoing struggle to ensure passenger safety in Philippine waters.

For families of the 29 confirmed dead and those still searching for missing relatives, the tragedy has brought unbearable grief. The Department of Social Welfare and Development has pledged financial assistance to affected households, while President Marcos has directed expedited insurance claim processing through Aleson Shipping Lines.

As technical investigators begin examining the wreckage and reviewing maintenance logs, passenger manifests and cargo distribution records, the maritime community awaits answers about what caused a routine inter-island voyage to end in one of the Philippines’ worst ferry disasters in recent years.

Whether the tragedy becomes a catalyst for genuine reform in Philippine maritime safety or simply another entry in a long chronicle of preventable disasters will depend on how decisively authorities act on the investigation’s findings and whether enforcement mechanisms can finally match the regulatory standards already on the books.