MANILA, Jan 27 (Reuters) – The Philippine Coast Guard will deploy divers on Tuesday to search for the remaining missing passengers after a vessel carrying more than 300 people capsized en route to the southern province of Sulu, leaving at least 18 dead.
The Department of Transportation has also suspended the entire passenger fleet of Aleson Shipping, the operator of the sunken vessel, noting the company has been involved in 32 maritime accidents.
The PCG said 316 people have been rescued, while 10 remain missing, after the MV Trisha Kerstin 3 sank shortly after midnight on Monday while en route to Jolo in Sulu province after departing from Zamboanga.
The cause of the sinking is still under investigation.
Aleson Shipping operates a network of inter-island routes across Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago.
Captain Noemie Cayabyab, a PCG spokesperson, said the total number of people on board had been revised to 344, down from the earlier figure of 359, after verifying that 15 people listed on the manifest did not board the vessel. The PCG said the vessel has an authorised passenger capacity of 352.
The PCG said it was not yet prepared to draw conclusions why the ferry sank, with the investigation still ongoing.
Sea accidents are common in the Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands with a patchy maritime safety record.
(Reporting by Karen Lema in Manila; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
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