A ferry carrying more than 359 people capsized in the southern Philippines on Monday, leaving at least 18 people dead and 24 missing, the coast guard and local officials said.

At least 317 people have been rescued after the MV Trisha Kerstin 3 sank, said the commander, Romel Dua, an operations officer from a regional office of the coast guard.

There were 332 passengers and 27 crew members on board.

Mr Dua said the cause of the accident was still unknown, but the ferry was travelling from Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines to Jolo Island.

It sank off Basilan province, about 900 kilometres south of Manila.

“We are still determining the cause of the accident. Our focus right now is the search and rescue operations,” he said.

Mr Dua noted that the ferry was not overloaded.

Basilan Governor Mujiv Hataman said initial information from survivors said the sea was calm when the incident happened.

Aleson Shipping Lines, the ferry’s owner, said it was working closely with the coast guard and other government agencies on search-and-rescue operations.

“Our thoughts and hearts are with everyone who was on board and with their families during this extremely difficult time.

“We humbly ask for your prayers, patience and understanding as efforts continue,” the company said in a statement.

Sea travel is a key form of transport in the Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands.

The Philippines was the site of the world’s worst peacetime maritime disaster, when a ferry collided with an oil tanker in 1987, killing more than 4,000 people.

(dpa/NAN)