Sailing in splendid weather on a short trip to Masbate, the MV Lady of Mount Carmel sank without warning in what seemed like less than a minute, without any time for the crew to give out life jackets, according to the captain of the ship.
Two passengers have been reported dead from the incident so far, while 55 have been rescued.
"Tuluy-tuloy ang ikot ng barko. Hindi namin nabigyan lahat (ng life jackets) kasi dire-diretso lang eh... Kaya kanya-kanya na lang kami," Lauro Mateo, who captained the ship, said in an interview barely three hours after his boat sank off Burias Island in Masbate province.
Contacted by GMA News TV's Kape't Balita on board another ship after his rescue, Mateo revealed that he was just a reliever for the regular captain and it had been his first trip on that route.
The roll-on roll-off ship (RORO) owned by Cebu-based Medallion Transport had left Pio Duran, Albay at around 2 a.m. Friday morning with over 60 on board, including two buses and two trucks.
At around 5 a.m., about 14 kilometers from its destination of Aroroy, Masbate, Mateo said the boat suddenly tilted before sinking quickly.
"Tumagilid yung barko. Pagtagilid, dire-diretso kaagad. Malalim yung area dito eh. Napakalalim ng dagat," Mateo said.
As a crowd looks on, Bantay Dagat rescuers offload survivors from the MV Lady of Mount Carmel interisland RORO ship that sank about 14 kilometers off the town of Aroroy, Masbate. Photo by Joselito Ramos
It had earlier been reported by the Bicol Office of Civil Defense that Mateo had said that a bus on the RORO had come loose from its moorings, causing the boat to lose its balance, tilt to one side before sinking. But Mateo told Kape't Balita anchors Tina Panganiban-Perez and Susan Enriquez that the buses were secured tightly and never came loose.Contacted by GMA News, Medallion Transport's general manager Max Culiapsy declined to comment on the ship captain's statements, saying that he had yet to speak to him.
Rescue operations The Philippine Coast Guard has sent out ships, a helicopter and directed other commercial vessels in the area to join rescue operations.
"We are conducting search and rescue operations. We will not stop until all the passengers and crew have been accounted for," Chief of the Philippine Coast Guard, Rodolfo Isorena, said.
"We requested even the commercial vessels that travel regularly to Masbate to divert their voyage and to assist in search and rescue operations," he added.
Fishermen on small outrigger motorboats were among the first to arrive on the scene and saved many lives, said local coastguard deputy chief Bayani Belisario.
"They (the passengers) were floating in their life jackets and the rescuers picked them out of the water," Belisario told AFP.
He said several people from the sunken ship were also able to make the long swim to the shores of Burias on their own.
A navy plane and a coastguard ship, diverted from taking part in maritime exercises in Indonesia, joined the search and 55 people were rescued throughout the morning, according to the authorities.
But Belisario said the bodies of two women were recovered from the water.
The ferry's manifest listed 35 passengers and 22 crew aboard but local civil defense chief Raffy Alejandro said there could be as many as seven people still missing.
Seven drivers and assistants who brought two buses and a truck aboard the roll-on, roll-off ferry may not have been listed because they travelled for free, Alejandro told AFP.
He said the cause of the sinking was not yet known but the ship's captain, who was among those rescued, reported the vessel may have been unbalanced by the buses and large truck.
"He said it happened so quickly. It just went down in the darkness," Alejandro said, adding the waters and weather were calm.
The type of roll-on, roll-off ferry that sank is commonly used in the Philippines to transport people, vehicles and cargo throughout the archipelago of more than 7,100 islands.
Alejandro said the ferry, the MV Lady of Mount Carmel, was not believed to have been overloaded as it sought to make its regular journey of about four hours between the two major provinces of Albay and Masbate, more than 300 kilometers southeast of Manila.
Maritime accidents are common in the Philippines, an archipelago with more than 7,000 islands where sea travel is often plagued with low safety standards.
In 2008, the ferry MV Princess of the Stars carrying more than 800 passengers, sank off Romblon island, killing hundreds.
– with Reuters, Agence France Presse/Howie Severino/KG/ELR, GMA News 
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