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Coastguard says at least 215 people have been rescued, while a search for 144 missing people is ongoing.

A ferry carrying more than 350 people has capsized off the southern Philippine province of Basilan, killing at least seven people, according to officials.

The ⁠accident occurred after midnight on Monday ​as the passenger vessel, MV Trisha Kerstin ‍3, was en route to Jolo Island in southern Sulu province, having departed the port city of Zamboanga.

The Philippine coastguard said the vessel ‍had 332 ⁠passengers on record and 27 crew.

Coastguard Commander Romel Dua of Southern Mindanao District told DZBB radio that 215 people had been rescued and seven bodies recovered, while search and ​rescue operations continued for 144 ‌others who remained missing.

Dua said an investigation was under way to determine the cause of the accident.

Arsina Laja Kahing-Nanoh, the town mayor in Basilan province, said in a post on Facebook that there were at least “eight confirmed casualties” from the sinking of the ferry. She posted a video of coastguard personnel rescuing several people and hauling bodies from the water into a boat.

In a separate video statement, Kahing-Nanoh added that rough seas and the darkness were hampering the search and rescue operation.

Basilan emergency responder Ronalyn Perez told the AFP news agency that “at least 138 people” had so far been rescued.

“The challenge here really is the number of patients that are coming in. We are short-staffed at the moment,” Perez said, adding that 18 people had been brought to one local hospital.

The PCG said rescue efforts were still ongoing.

Dua, the coastguard commander in Mindanao, said the cause of the ferry sinking was not immediately clear and that there would be an investigation. He added that the coastguard cleared the ferry before it left the Zamboanga port, and there was no sign of overloading.

Sea accidents are common in the Philippine archipelago because of frequent storms, badly maintained vessels, overcrowding and spotty enforcement of safety regulations, especially in remote provinces.

On Friday, at least two Filipino sailors were reported killed, and 15 others were rescued after a Singapore-flagged general cargo vessel en route to China from the southern island of Mindanao sank. Four other sailors remain missing.

In December 1987, the ferry Dona Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker in the central Philippines, killing more than 4,300 people in the world’s worst peacetime maritime disaster.