The roll-on/roll-off passenger ferry departed Zamboanga City at 21:20 local time on Sunday evening, bound for Jolo in Sulu province with 314 passengers and 27 crew members aboard. “Maritime safety is not negotiable; it is not optional,” Lopez told reporters. On 29 March 2023, the company’s MV Lady Mary Joy 3 caught fire approximately 3.5 nautical miles from Baluk-Baluk Island while sailing from Zamboanga City to Jolo, killing 29 passengers and crew with seven missing. Ferry accidents remain a persistent safety challenge in the Philippines, where more than 7,000 islands necessitate extensive inter-island shipping for millions of passengers annually. For families of the 29 confirmed dead and those still searching for missing relatives, the tragedy has brought unbearable grief.