The death toll from a fire aboard a Philippine passenger ferry has climbed to 76, with 13 people still unaccounted for, after search and rescue teams retrieved 41 additional bodies from the wreck of the MV June Aster off the coast of Palawan province in the western Philippines.

The vessel was travelling from the capital Manila to Coron, a popular tourist destination in northern Palawan, carrying 132 passengers and crew when fire engulfed its lower decks on Wednesday evening. The blaze broke out just 2.2 kilometres from its destination. Rescuers pulled 43 survivors from the water that night, but the majority of those on board did not escape. Bodies have since been transported to a port in Coron, where tents have been set up to assist forensic teams working to identify victims through personal belongings and DNA matching.

Survivors described hearing two explosions before flames tore through the passenger areas within seconds. A witness reported seeing only a small amount of smoke before the fire spread with devastating speed across the ferry. "The wind may have contributed to the rapid spread of the flames, based on the survivors' accounts," said Commodore Noemi Cayabyab, spokesperson for the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG). She added that some passengers reportedly jumped into the water without retrieving their life jackets, leaving little time to react. The cause of the fire has not yet been officially determined, and investigators are examining the initial explosions as part of their inquiry.

Maritime authorities have placed the ship captain's actions during the critical early minutes of the disaster under formal review. The whereabouts of the captain remain unclear — the PCG said it had received information that he is alive, but his name does not appear on the list of 43 confirmed survivors. "With the number of missing and the number of capacity, definitely there is liability here," Cayabyab said. The ferry's operator, Atienza Interisland Ferries, issued a statement pledging full transparency and promising assistance to affected families, including lodging, transportation and medical care.

The disaster is the latest in a long series of maritime tragedies in the Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,600 islands where millions of people depend on ferries as their primary means of inter-island travel. Investigations into safety procedures and the cause of the fire are ongoing.