Philippine Coast Guard personnel in protective suits carry a body bag of a victim from the ferry fire to a tent for identification at the port of Borac in Coron, Palawan province on September 13, 2026. Jam Sta. Rosa, AFP
CORON, Palawan — The number of passengers still missing from the fire-ravaged MV June Aster in Coron, Palawan has been reduced to eight, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said on Wednesday.
PCG spokesperson Commodore Noemie Cayabyab said four more passengers listed on the vessel's ticket manifest were confirmed not to have actually boarded the ship when it sailed from Baseco Port in Manila on the night of Sept. 8, 2026.
The Coron Emergency Operations Center received the information Tuesday night, which was later verified by the PCG.
READ: Unidentified MV June Aster victims buried as families await word on missing loved ones
READ: MV June Aster death toll rises to 77 after crew dies in Culion hospital
"Based on the verification, three of the four individuals said they had intended to book tickets from Coron to Manila but mistakenly booked the opposite route, from Manila to Coron," Cayabyab said.
The fourth passenger listed on the manifest was confirmed to have already traveled to Coron aboard another passenger vessel on Sept. 5.
The four were therefore removed from the list of 12 missing passengers.
The PCG had earlier confirmed that two other passengers listed on the MV June Aster manifest did not actually board the vessel.
Based on the latest figures, 128 people were aboard the vessel when the tragedy occurred. Of these, 77 died, 43 survived and eight remain missing.
Meanwhile, the PCG said it had collected 58 drums of oily water mixture from the flooded engine room of the MV June Aster as part of its ongoing dewatering operations.
The PCG District Palawan also set up a legal assistance help desk at the Coron local government's Emergency Operations Center to assist families of the victims.
Twenty-four families have so far received legal assistance from the PCG.
The coast guard has also expanded its aerial search operations, covering the area northeast of Barangay Turda in Coron, Palawan, toward southwestern Occidental Mindoro, in an effort to locate the remaining missing victims.