Boat with 70 board missing, feared sunk off southern Philippines
( 2002-02-02 16:10 ) (7 )

A ferryboat with about 70 people on board has been missing for five days in waters off the southern Philippines and is believed to have sunk, military and coast guard officials said on Saturday.

There has been no sign of survivors from the boat, the ML Sugar Diane-Z, which lost contact with the coast guard late January 27 amid reports of rough seas and engine trouble.

The boat, carrying a cargo of dried coconut meat and 70 people, set off from the southernmost islands of Tawi-tawi and heading for Zamboanga City on January 27, military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Danilo Servando said.

Coast guard official Lieutenant Arnold dela Cruz said the boat called in a radio report that it had suffered engine trouble and later said that it was caught in rough seas and was taking on water.

"Passengers and crew were vomitting and felt weak," dela Cruz said, quoting the ship's last radio report.

An airforce plane and a rescue vessel was sent to the area to find the stricken ferryboat but there was no sign of the ML Sugar Diane-Z, Servando and dela Cruz said.

Dela Cruz said they were also looking into the reports that another vessel, the MM Sea Horse, went down on January 26 but that eight of the 13 people on board had survived.

Small, wooden-hulled motorboats are usually used to ferry people and cargo between the numerous small islands of the Philippines.