At least three people have died in the Philippines as rescuers evacuated a sinking ferry with more than 960 people on board, coastguards say. The Superferry 9 was said to be carrying 847 passengers and 117 crew as it sailed off the Zamboanga peninsula. The vessel began listing and signalled mayday, prompting coastguard, the navy, air force and private boats to help. The ferry's owners said 867 people had been rescued but three people had died, and the operation was ongoing. The coastguard said those rescued were being transferred to commercial vessels which had responded to the mayday call. With people still missing, coast guard chief Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo told Associated Press news agency: "We really hope they're just unaccounted for due to the confusion." The cause of the listing was unknown, but the weather was reported to be fair at the time of the incident. The ferry sent a distress signal about 0400 on Sunday (2100BST Saturday) as it tilted in heavy seas, about 530 miles (860km) south of the Philippine capital, Manila. One passenger said the ship began listing in the middle of the night, but he was assured by crew that everything was alright. However, a couple of hours later the situation worsened. "The ship shifted suddenly and some people just panicked," a man named as Roger Cinciron was quoted as telling a local radio station by phone. He was speaking from one of the life rafts as he waited to be rescued. The ferry was sailing from the port of General Santos on Saturday and had been due to arrive in Ilioilo later on Sunday, AP quoted the ship's owner, Aboitiz Transport System, as saying. Maritime accidents are common in the Philippines because of tropical storms, poor ship maintenance and lax safety enforcement. Source: BBC