Philippine firefighters on Friday managed to enter a smoldering ferry in a search for dozens of people still unaccounted for after the vessel caught fire on Wednesday evening, with rescue work complicated by heavy smoke and extreme heat.
Firefighters have reported that five people have died, 43 people have been rescued, and more than 80 are missing.
On Friday, Coast Guard spokesperson Commodore Noemi Cayabyab said that charred remains had been found in the economy accommodation area, but added that the exact number of those found would need to wait for police forensic investigators to examine the remains for recovery and identification.
"We can't provide exact numbers yet on what we saw today," Cayabyab told AFP news agency.
"We will be providing it once we conduct retrieval and recovery," she added.
