Fire on Philippine ferry under control, none hurt

Manila, Mar 9: A fire on a passenger ferry was brought under control near the central Philippine island of Cebu today, with none of the 600 passengers injured and no evacuation necessary, the coast guard and the ship's owner said.

The Super Ferry 12 was on its way from Manila to Cebu City when a fire started in a state room, John Rojo, a spokesman for the operator WG&A, said on television.

''All the passengers are safe and secure. What we will make sure is that the ship reaches the port of Cebu,'' he said.

The vessel was anchored about 60 nautical miles from Cebu.

The Philippines, a nation of more than 7,000 islands, has a long history of ferry disasters, with overcrowding of passengers and ageing ships often blamed.

A Superferry was the target of the Southeast Asian country's worst terror attack when Muslim rebels from the Abu Sayyaf group set off a bomb on a ship at the mouth of Manila Bay in February 2004, killing more than 100 people.

REUTERS