A ferry with more than 350 people on board sank during the night early Monday near an island in the southern Philippines, and rescuers have saved at least 316 passengers and retrieved 15 bodies, officials said.

Axar.az reports that the M/V Trisha Kerstin 3, an inter-island cargo and passenger ferry, was sailing to southern Jolo island in Sulu province from the port city of Zamboanga with 332 passengers and 27 crew members when it apparently encountered technical problems and sank after midnight, coast guard officials told The Associated Press.

The ferry sank in good weather about a nautical mile (nearly 2 kilometers) from the island village of Baluk-baluk in Basilan province, where many of the survivors were initially taken, coast guard commander Romel Dua told The Associated Press.

“There was a coast guard safety officer on board, and he was the first to call and alert us to deploy rescue vessels,” Dua said, adding that the safety officer survived.