Ro-ro catches fire off Batangas; coast guard rescues 50 passengers

A roll-on roll-off vessel caught fire while cruising between Calapan, Oriental Mindoro and Batangas before dawn Friday.

GMA News' Jay Sabale reported on "Unang Balita" that the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Southern Tagalog received a report that M/V Reina Hosanna caught fire at about 12:20 a.m.

Unang Balita said that the PCG personnel rescued 50 passengers from the vessel. But it did not give an exact count of all the rescued passengers because a sister vessel of M/V Reina Hosanna, owned by Montenegro shipping, was reported to have rescued some other passengers.

Rescued passengers were brought to PCG Southern Tagalog and personnel from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Philippine Red Cross are taking care of their needs, the report added.  

Meanwhile, PCG towed the fire-stricken vessel toward the Batangas port, and by 6 a.m. the fire was under control. 

UPDATE: Sunog sa M/V Reina Hosanna na nagmula sa engine bay nito, naapula na kaninang 7:00 a.m. | via @jay2dfour

— DZBB Super Radyo (@dzbb) March 17, 2017

Authorities declared a fire out by 7 a.m.

Fire investigators suspected that the fire originated from the engine bay. An investigaion is ongoing. —Marlly Rome C. Bondoc/LBG, GMA News