Manila, Philippines: The high-speed Philippine ferry carrying 134 people caught fire on Monday, killing seven people and leaving seven more missing, according to the coast guard.

The MV Mercraft 2 caught fire immediately before arriving in the Quezon provincial port of Real, some 60 kilometres (37 miles) east of Manila.

At 5 a.m. local time, it departed Polilio Island and issued a distress call at 6:30 a.m.

The coast guard stated in a statement that five women and two men perished, while 120 people were rescued and another 23 were treated for injuries.

The coast guard released photos of individuals in life jackets floating at sea, awaiting rescue, while others were rescued by a cargo ship in the region.

The two-story passenger ship was enveloped in flames and dense smoke.

The source of the fire is unknown, but the Philippines, an archipelago of over 7,600 islands, has a bad reputation for marine safety.

Ships are frequently aged and overloaded.

When the overcrowded passenger ferry Dona Paz collided with an oil tanker off the coast of Mindoro Island, south of Manila, in 1987, the world’s greatest peacetime shipping tragedy occurred.

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