MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- A powerful explosion ripped through a passenger ferry carrying about 900 people early Friday, sparking a fire that killed at least one person, injured 12 and left more than 100 missing, officials said.
Most of the 744 passengers and the entire crew of 155 survived by jumping into the sea or boarding rescue boats, but the fate of about 100 passengers remained unknown. Officials said they might have been picked up by fishing boats, trapped inside the blazing ferry or drowned.
Twice, the fire appeared to be out, only to rekindle. Shortly after dawn, more than five hours after the blaze erupted, two loud successive explosions inside the back section of the ferry were followed by billowing black smoke and walls of flame.
Listing to starboard, the steel-hulled Superferry 14 was towed into a cove in Mariveles on the Bataan Peninsula, near the mouth of Manila Bay, where it lay on one side in shallow water, still smoldering.
The ship's owner, WG&A, earlier reported two bodies had been recovered. It later corrected the death toll to one without any explanation. The coast guard also reported only one person died and 12 were injured, most with burns.
There were conflicting reports about what caused the explosion and fire. Coast guard Rear Adm. Danilo Abinoja said it may have originated in the engine room, while a passenger said an air conditioner exploded.
WG&A spokeswoman Gina Virtusio said the fire started in the tourist section on the third deck, which includes air-conditioned sleeping cabins and a dining area.
She said the company follows strict anti-terror measures, which included bomb-sniffing dogs on the ship.
A Dutch passenger, Wilhelm Van Eeken, said he was sleeping in a cabin with his Filipina wife and 3-year-old son when they were awakened by an explosion. A crew member told them to assemble on the deck, where they were lowered onto a waiting boat.
``All the passengers panicked. We donned life jackets and we ran toward the topmost part of the ship,'' another passenger, Christie Alletona, 20, told radio station DZRH by cell phone.
The rescue operation included air force helicopters, six coast guard ships, four navy vessels, five tugboats, five commercial vessels and a number of fishing boats.
WG&A said the fire broke out near Corregidor Island, about 45 miles southwest of Manila, nearly two hours after the ferry left port.
The ship was headed for the central city of Bacolod and southern Cagayan de Oro city.
Coast guard Apprentice Jess Galicah said the ship had a capacity of 1,672. It was built in Japan about 15 years ago.
Small boats and ferries are the chief means of travel among islands in the Philippine archipelago, where boat accidents are common.
The Philippines was the site of the world's worst peacetime maritime disaster when a ferry sank after colliding with a fuel tanker in 1987, killing 4,340 people.
