Typhoon leaves 25 dead in Philippine ferry tragedy
Rain and strong winds led to the capsize of a ferry in the Philippines in which at least 25 people died on Thursday as Doksuri regained super typhoon strength in its final approach to southeastern China. The ferry sank near the Philippine capital of Manila after passengers alarmed by strong winds rushed to one side of the boat, overturning it. As many as 36 people have been killed this week during Doksuri's transit off the northern Philippines. It was not immediately clear how many people were on board, but disaster official Neil Ferrer told DZRH radio that 40 people had been rescued and a search is ongoing for six missing people. Members of the coast guard were seen pulling a body of what looked like a woman without a life vest from choppy waters as they carried out search and rescue operations, a video shared by the PCG showed. The boat was about 45 metres from land when it was hit by strong winds, causing all passengers to panic and move to one side, which caused the vessel to capsize off the waters of Binangonan, the PCG said. Binangonan is a coastal town just two hours of drive from the capital, Manila. As of 5pm, the winds around the eye of the storm had reached up to 187 km per hour, putting Doksuri back on the top rung of the mainland's tropical storm categorisation system after weakening earlier. Doksuri is expected to make landfall in China on Friday morning somewhere between Dongshan and Putian in the southeastern province of Fujian. On Thursday, three coastal cities in Fujian shut schools, businesses and factories, while flood control authorities in one of them, Xiamen, warned of a "serious impact". The China Meteorological Administration forecast that Doksuri would be weaker than 2016's Typhoon Meranti, the strongest storm to hit China's coast since 1949 which killed at least 11 people. (Reuters)