Death toll from Philippine boat capsize rises to 27

The death toll from the sinking of an overloaded passenger boat amid stormy weather in the Philippines has risen to 27, officials said on Friday.

The deaths brought the total number of people killed in a week of bad weather caused mainly by Typhoon Doksuri to 40.

Forty-three people were rescued from Laguna Lake off Rizal province, east of Manila, where the M/B Princess Aya capsized on Thursday, according to Jose Hernandez, head of the municipal disaster agency in Binangonan town, where the boat sailed from.

Hernandez said authorities could not say if there were missing victims because the total number of passengers could not be determined with only 22 people listed on the boat's manifest.

The motorized outrigger was 45 metres from the shore when it was pummelled by strong winds. Panicked passengers rushed to one side of the boat, making it tilt and capsize, the coastguard said.

"People were screaming and we all rushed to one side of the boat," survivor Marr Delos Reyes said in a Manila radio interview.

"No one had a life jacket on," she added. "When the boat tipped over, passengers were trapped under a tarp used as cover against the rain. There was no way out."

Search and retrieval operations would continue for three days to ensure that all are accounted for, the coastguard said.

Coastguard spokesman Rear Admiral Balilo said authorities were looking into why the boat had more passengers than its maximum capacity of 42.

"We are going to file a [criminal] complaint, together with the national police, against the captain and the operator of the motorboat," he said.

The boat was allowed to sail after the storm warning from Doksuri was lifted in the area, authorities said.

Doksuri, which moved off the Philippines on Thursday, caused floods, landslides and other accidents that killed at least 13 people, the national disaster agency said.

Six people drowned in flash floods, while six were killed in landslides and one was hit by a falling coconut, officials said.

More than 500,000 people in 43 provinces were affected by Doksuri, including 42,831 who were displaced, the national disaster agency said.

The weather bureau said it was monitoring another storm moving towards the Philippines.

Tropical Storm Khanun was not likely to make landfall in the Philippines, but would enhance the south-west monsoon and bring more heavy rains, it said.