At least 15 killed and hundreds rescued after deadly ferry disaster in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A ferry with more than 350 people on board sank early Monday near an island in the southern Philippines, killing at least 15 people, officials said.

Rescuers saved at least 316 passengers and crewmembers retrieved 15 bodies, and a fleet of boats backed by a surveillance plane were carrying out a search and rescue operation for the missing.

Coast guard officials said the cargo and passenger ferry apparently encountered technical problems and sank after midnight. The vessel abruptly tilted to one side and took on water, hurling people into the sea in the darkness, according to a rescued passenger who lost his 6-month-old baby.

“My wife lost hold of our baby and all of us got separated at sea,” a distraught Mohamad Khan told a volunteer rescuer, Gamar Alih, who posted a video of Khan’s remarks on Facebook.

He said he and his wife, who had been holding their child, were rescued, but the baby drowned. His wife wept by his side as Khan told of their ordeal.

The M/V Trisha Kerstin 3 was sailing in good weather from the port city of Zamboanga to southern Jolo island in Sulu province with 332 passengers and 27 crew members.

It sank about a nautical mile (nearly 2 kilometers) from the island village of Baluk-baluk in Basilan province, said coast guard Commander Romel Dua.

“There was a coast guard safety officer on board and he was the first to call and alert us to deploy rescue vessels,” Dua said, adding that the safety officer survived.

The cause of the ferry sinking was not immediately clear and there will be an investigation, Dua said. The coast guard had cleared the ferry before it left the Zamboanga port, and there was no sign of overloading, he said.

Coast guard and navy ships, along with a surveillance plane, an air force Black Hawk helicopter and fleets of fishing boats were carrying out search and rescue operations off Basilan, Dua said.

Alih, a village councilor from Zamboanga city, told The Associated Press that he volunteered to help in the search and rescue because some of his relatives were among the ferry passengers. They all survived.

Basilan Governor Mujiv Hataman said several passengers and two bodies were brought to Isabela, the provincial capital, where he and ambulance vans waited.

“I’m receiving 37 people here in the pier. Unfortunately two are dead,” Hataman said, speaking by by cellphone from the Isabela pier.

Sea accidents are common in the Philippine archipelago because of frequent storms, badly maintained vessels, overcrowding and spotty enforcement of safety regulations, especially in remote provinces.

In December 1987, the ferry Dona Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker in the central Philippines, killing more than 4,300 people in the world’s deadliest peacetime maritime disaster.

Associated Press video journalist Joeal Calupitan contributed to this report.

This photo released by the Philippine Coast Guard shows Philippine Coast Guard personnel tending to people who were aboard the M/V Trisha Kerstin 3 around the waters of Baluk-baluk Island, Basilan, Philippines Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP)

This photo released by the Philippine Coast Guard shows its personnel tending to people who were aboard the M/V Trisha Kerstin 3 around the waters of Baluk-Baluk Island, Basilan, Philippines Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Judges at the International Criminal Court ruled on Monday that former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is fit to stand trial, after postponing an earlier hearing over concerns about the octogenarian’s health.

Duterte is facing charges of crimes against humanity for his alleged involvement in dozens of killings as part of his so-called war on drugs when in office, first as the mayor of a southern city and later as president.

Lawyers for the 80-year old had argued Duterte was in frail health and his condition was deteriorating in the court’s detention unit.

Duterte was arrested in March and was set to appear in court in The Hague in September. That hearing was delayed after a pretrial panel of judges granted “limited postponement” to give the court time to determine “whether Mr Duterte is fit to follow and participate” in the proceedings.

Following an assessment by a panel of medical experts, judges found that Duterte “is able effectively to exercise his procedural rights and is therefore fit to take part in the pre-trial proceedings.”

The panel included experts in geriatric neurology and psychiatry. According to court filings, Duterte underwent cognitive testing, as well as mental and physical examinations.

Rights groups and families of victims hailed Duterte’s arrest in March. Two organizations supporting the families of suspects killed in Duterte’s crackdown hailed the court’s decision as “a resounding victory for justice and accountability.”

In a joint statement, SENTRO and the CATW-AP said, “The ICC’s ruling reaffirms a simple but powerful truth: No one, not even a former head of state, is above the law.”

According to a filing last month, ICC prosecutors claim Duterte instructed and authorized “violent acts including murder to be committed against alleged criminals, including alleged drug dealers and users.”

Prosecutors announced in February 2018 that they would open a preliminary investigation into the so-called war on drugs overseen by Duterte when he served as mayor of the southern Philippine city of Davao and later as president.

In a move that human rights activists say was aimed at escaping accountability, Duterte, who was president at the time, announced a month later that the Philippines would leave the court.

Judges rejected a request from Duterte's legal team to throw out the case on the grounds that the court did not have jurisdiction because the Philippines had withdrawn from the court. Countries can’t “abuse” their right to withdraw from the Rome Statute “by shielding persons from justice in relation to alleged crimes that are already under consideration,” the September decision says.

Estimates of the death toll during Duterte’s presidential term vary, from the more than 6,000 that the national police have reported to up to 30,000 claimed by human rights groups.

FILE - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte addresses the troops during the 82nd anniversary celebration of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in suburban Quezon city northeast of Manila, Philippines on Dec. 20, 2017. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)