(CNN) — At least 17 people died and 693 others have been rescued in the Philippines when a cargo ship collided with a passenger ship.
The incident occurred on the Mactan Channel at Talisay City, Cebu province.
The passenger ship — MV St. Thomas Aquinas — was coming from nearby Butuan province and the cargo ship — the Sulpicio — was leaving Cebu for the province of Davao in Mindanao.
The passenger ferry sank. There were about 692 passengers, based on the initial manifest.
There may have been others not on that manifest. It’s also unclear how many people were on the cargo ship.
The cargo vessel along with Navy, Coast Guard and commercial vessels were helping in the rescue efforts.
Coast Guard officials received a distress call from the passenger ferry around 9 p.m.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2013 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.
