MANILA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- At least 39 people, including 11 children, were killed and 76 others were rescued after an inter-island passenger boat capsized Tuesday afternoon in the central Philippines, the police said.

The MV Don Dexter Kathleen capsized off the country's central province of Masbate when a sudden gust of wind hit the vessel at 1p.m. local time (0300 GMT), said Reuben Sindac, police director of the province.

Rescue teams recovered a manifest of the ferry, which showed there were 119 passengers on the boat. But the police are not yet clear about the number of the crew members.

Reports said there were some ten sailors on board, which brought the missing at 14.

Of the adult dead, 25 were women.

The tragedy occurred 20 minutes after the ferry's departure on its voyage to Sorsogon, another central province.

The vessel was reportedly owned and operated by one Eduardo Yapin the Masbate province.

"The weather suddenly turned violent. There was a whirlwind," said Herminio Valdemoro, a local official.

Sindac said there were life jackets aboard but the waves surged too suddenly.

As an archipelago with more than 7,000 islands and heavy dependence on sea-going vessels for transport, the Southeast Asian country is frequently haunted by sea mishaps, large or small.

On June 21, another ferry, named The M/V Princess of the Stars, overturned off the central province of Romblon at the height of Typhoon Fengshen, with 862 people on board. No more than 60 survived the disaster. Currently, the ill-fated vessel is still floating upside down off Romblon.
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