Better boat safety sought as lake mishap victims rise to 26

By Charles Dantes, Macon Ramos-Araneta, and Darwin G. Amojelar

GOVERNMENT officials and lawmakers called for more stringent safety measures for maritime vessels after the number of people killed when an overloaded passenger boat capsized in Laguna Lake on Thursday rose to 26, with divers still looking for three missing.

"These are lives we are talking about, we want to be thorough, coming from this, what are the preemptive measures we can take so this won't be repeated," Rizal Gov. Nini Ynares said in a TV report.

Mayor Cesar Ynares of Binangonan, Rizal, where the tragedy happened, noted there could be more passengers trapped underneath the vessel aside from the 67 already rescued or retrieved.

Next page named "Falcon" in the Philippines, will trigger monsoon rains over Zambales and Bataan, the state weather bureau said in its 24-hour public weather forecast issued at 4 p.m. on Friday. Flooding or landslides due to scattered to widespread rains are possible in the

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