Zamboanga City Coast Guard station chief Lt. Commander Ronnie Gil Gavan said the bomb exploded before the PCG station here granted clearance to M/V Doña Ramona to sail for Zamboanga City at 7:15 a.m.

Gavan said the injured were immediately rushed to the St. Peter Hospital for treatment.

AFP Public Information Office chief Lt. Col. Buenaventura Pascual said 23 of the injured were identified by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Southern Command (Southcom) in Zamboanga City as Private First Class Edwin Calansag of the 18th Infantry Battalion and his wife, Fe; Ondrada Inlian, 64; Alfredo Inlisan, 54; Leticia Magtalia, 45; Alvin Enriquez, 39; Aljun Enriquez, 31; Angelo Enriquez, 20; Angelie Enriquez, 35; Emmanuel Torres, 15; Joseph Luon, 25;

Nick Uruada, 61; Jaime Pueblo, 41; Roel Eloma, 18; Sonny Boy Hamac, 12; Isnaim Olmoc, 30; Renato Sestima, 43; Zenaida Sestima, 41; Joan Marie Sestima, 8; Clark Anthony Sestima, 9; Kalulirman Utin, 17; Abdulhamid Abdulajid, 17; and Shain Sestima, 8.

The three remaining injured passengers were unidentified.

Gavan said he deployed BRP Davao del Norte AU3504 to this town to serve as standby rescue ferry boat to transport the wounded to Zamboanga City for treatment.

Reports said the bomb exploded in a trash can beside a canteen inside the ferry boat at 7 a.m. while the boat was preparing to leave the port of Lamitan for Zamboanga City.

Other reports said that the blast was a result of an LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) tank wired to an improvised bomb that was planted inside a trash can located at the lower level of the vessel.

Police, however, discovered that there was no LPG tank at the explosion site at the ship’s lower level.

Residents here blamed the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and condemned them for the explosion, which they said is a barbaric act that hurt innocent civilians.

They also blamed the lax security at the port of Lamitan for the bombing.