MANILA, Philippines — Passengers jumped into the sea and parents dropped children into life rafts from a stricken ferry carrying nearly 1,000 people after it capsized in the middle of the night in the southern Philippines.
Nine people died and more than 30 were missing Sunday, though rescue efforts saved about 900 terrified victims on the Superferry 9 after it turned on its side nine miles off Zamboanga del Norte province.
The vessel's violent rotation roused passengers from their sleep and sent many jumping in the darkness into the water, said Adm. Wilfredo Tamayo, the coast guard chief.
Rescuers transferred 926 of 968 passengers and crewmen to two nearby commercial ships, a navy gunboat and a fishing boat, Tamayo said.
A search was under way for 33 missing people.
Navy ships were deployed and three military aircraft scoured the seas, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said.
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American troops providing counterterrorism training to Philippine soldiers in the region deployed a civilian helicopter and five boats, some carrying paramedics, to help, U.S. Col. William Coultrup said.
Teodoro said two men and a child drowned during the scramble to escape the ship.
The bodies of two other passengers were later plucked from the sea by fishermen, the coast guard said, adding that three people were injured.
The cause of the listing was not clear.
The 7,268-ton vessel, owned by the Aboitiz Transport System Corp., left the southern port city of General Santos on Saturday and was scheduled to arrive in Iloilo City in the central Philippines later Sunday but ran into problems midway, Tamayo said.
There were no signs of possible terrorism, he said.
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