Death toll in Iloilo-Guimaras sea tragedy now at 25

Three more bodies were retrieved at noon Sunday, bringing to 25 the total number of deaths accounted for after three passenger boats in the Iloilo-Guimaras Strait on Saturday afternoon capsized due to strong Habagat winds.

In a Sunday noon update, RGMA-Iloilo's Ivan Aguana told Super Radyo dzBB that local authorities confirmed the retrieval of three more bodies after the finding of 11 in the morning, bring the death toll to 25.

FLASH REPORT: Bilang ng mga nasawi sa paglubog ng pampasaherong bangka sa Guimaras Strait, umakyat na sa 25. | via Ivan Aguana, Super Radyo Iloilo pic.twitter.com/31aENaMz58

— DZBB Super Radyo (@dzbb) August 4, 2019

Earlier in the day, local authorities confirm that the death toll rose to 22 after finding 11 more bodies from the sea tragedy.

Late on Saturday, the death toll, according to the Philippine Red Cross was at 12, while 47 were rescued.

But RGMA's Aguana clarified that only 11 bodies were found on Saturday and another 11 were retrieved early this Sunday morning.

Authorities earlier said that three vessels capsized on Sunday afternoon due to strong winds from the Southwest Monsoon (Habagat).

The first two sinking incidents happened when MB Che-che and MB Keziah —carrying a total of 51 passengers and crew members — capsized at around 12:15 p.m., resulting in the drowning of 10 people. Of the 51, 41 were rescued.

MB Che-che was bound for Guimaras from Iloilo, while MB Keziah was going the other way, from Guimaras to Iloilo, according to Donna Magno, head of the Iloilo City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

3rd sinking

The third pump boat, MB Jenny Vince, carrying 38 passengers and crew, capsized at about 3 p.m. At least one person reportedly died in the incident.

Authorities are still trying to look for other passengers in the third sinking.

"After the first incident, there was a cancellation of trips kaya nagulat kami nung dumating sa amin na may second incident," said Magno, adding that an investigation is already ongoing to determine how the third boat managed to stil lset sail despite the first two bancas capsizing. —LBG, GMA News