Ship goes down - level 3

27-08-2013 06:00

More than 200 people are missing after a ferry sank following a collision with a container ship in the Philippines. At least 24 people are believed to have died.

Divers have been searching for bodies in the ferry, which sank on Friday, minutes after the crash just outside the port of Cebu.

Some 629 people have been rescued, many by fishing boats. The Philippine coastguard said the ferry had requested a change in its approach to the port minutes before the accident, but it's unclear if the cargo vessel had agreed. The captains of the two ships survived but have yet to be questioned.

Difficult words: container ship (ship which carries big containers), request (ask for), approach (way), cargo vessel (ship which moves things, not people).