One person was killed and 153 were missing after disaster struck the 877 passengers and crew aboard a luxury Philippine ferry about an hour into an overnight journey from Manila.
"We climbed down on a nylon cord and swam to the nearest fishing boat," Jetro Restiza, one of 43 marine engineering students who were training on the ferry, told journalists.
"Our instinct was to save ourselves and jump from the ship."
Still clutching orange life vests and wearing their night clothes, dozens of survivors separated from relatives in the chaos had tearful reunions on shore as others waited anxiously.
Rodel Castillo turned on his mobile phone this morning to an alarming text message from his wife, who was taking their 15-day-old daughter to visit her family.
"Our ship is on fire. Don't worry, we're safe, but I got separated from our baby," she wrote in a mixture of English, Tagalog and the Visayan dialect. "Please pray for our baby."
After hours of anguish, Castillo learned his daughter and wife were being brought back to Manila on different boats.
Coast Guard officials would not speculate on the potential death toll but said the number of missing was likely to fall as more rescue ships returned to port from the mouth of Manila Bay.
Eleven people were hurt, including several with severe burns.
Dozens of small fishing boats plucked people from the choppy water as Coast Guard, navy and cargo ships raced through the darkness to the stricken ferry.
"We were already lying down to sleep when we heard a loud bang," Mary Jane Silverio, who was travelling with her sister, told Reuters on the deck of a Coast Guard ship.
"We ran like everyone else to the lower part of the ship. Some jumped over the side, but I did not."