About 300 passengers on a ferry stranded in rough seas for more than 24 hours were safely carried to land by small boats late Friday as a tropical storm battered the western Philippines, triggering flash floods, authorities said, according to AP. Passengers on the MV Starlite Pacific spent Thursday night and most of the day Friday on the open sea south of Manila because the big waves prevented the ship from docking at the port of Roxas township in Oriental Mindoro province, the coast guard said. Food was brought to the passengers by another vessel and dropped by a coast guard helicopter Friday, coast guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Armand Balilo said. «The waves were too rough at the pier, so we were forced to return to the area where we dropped anchor,» passenger Ariel Taton told Radio DZBB by cell phone. Jun Sinel, port manager of ferry owner Starlite Ferry Inc. in Roxas, told The Associated Press he directed the ship captain to sail close to the shore of nearby Bongabon town where the waters were calmer Friday. He said motorized outriggers picked up the passengers and took them to Bongabon. They boarded buses to Roxas, where they were to transfer to a larger sister ship, Starlite Atlantic. The passengers were headed to central Panay Island before dawn Thursday, but big waves forced the captain to turn back, Sinel said. Rain and high waves were brought by a tropical storm Halong that formed in the South China Sea, west of the Philippines. The storm gained strength with sustained winds of 47 miles (75 kilometers) per hour and gusts of up 56 mph (90 kph) by 5 p.m. (0900 GMT) Friday as it moved toward Pangasinan province northwest of Manila, the weather bureau said.
