Manila: The Philippine Coast Guard has discovered bodies aboard a ferry engulfed by fire, with the death toll expected to rise as dozens of people remain missing. Coast guard spokesperson Commodore Noemie Cayabyab said on Friday that the bodies were found in the economy accommodation area of the M/V June Aster, which caught fire on Wednesday night during a voyage from Manila to the western province of Palawan. According to TRTworld.com, five people had been confirmed dead before the discovery, while 84 remained missing and 43 had been rescued. "We can't provide exact numbers yet on what we saw today," Cayabyab said in a phone call. "We will be providing it once we conduct retrieval and recovery," she added, saying a meeting was underway to determine the proper protocols for the operation. Cayabyab confirmed that the entire ship had now been searched. Earlier on Friday, she told a radio station that the fire began in the cargo hold and swept through the vessel within seconds. The ferry ran aground near the t ourist hotspot of Coron, Palawan, after the blaze erupted. Earlier on Friday, firefighters boarded the vessel after thick smoke and extreme heat delayed access. The coast guard revised the number of missing from 86 to 84 after verifying that two people listed on the manifest had not been aboard. A total of 43 people have been rescued. The manifest listed 117 passengers and 17 crew members aboard the ferry. Aerial footage showed a Coast Guard helicopter hovering above the burned ferry, whose upper decks were blackened by fire. While light smoke continued to rise from parts of the vessel, it was noticeably thinner than the thick plumes seen a day earlier. Two firefighters could be seen on an upper deck. Richard Marceliano, one of the survivors, told GMA News he saw a small amount of smoke that quickly turned into a raging fire and spread through the ferry within seconds. He said he and other passengers spent nearly two hours floating in the sea before they were rescued. Meanwhile, relatives of missing passen gers gathered outside the Manila office of shipowner Atienza Inter-Island Ferries, seeking information after their calls to the company went unanswered. Evelyn Umpad, 64, said she was waiting for news of her son and daughter-in-law, who had been traveling to Taytay in Palawan to buy land. "We kept calling but nobody was answering. They took my number and said they would call back, but no one contacted us, so we came here ourselves to find out the situation," she said. "My appeal is for them to take action and keep us updated." The ferry company has said it is fully cooperating with government authorities investigating the incident. The Coast Guard has deployed five vessels and divers to the area, with army rescue boats, fishermen, and private resort owners also helping in the search, which began on Wednesday night. Coast Guard spokesperson Commodore Noemie Cayabyab said a larger vessel would also be deployed. The cause of the blaze remains unclear. The ferry was nearing the end of its more than 20-hour voy age to Coron, a popular tourist destination in northern Palawan, when the fire broke out. The Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA), citing survivors' accounts, said two successive explosions were heard inside the vessel before the fire erupted. The ferry had a capacity of 330 people and was also transporting cargo, including five motorcycles, an electric vehicle, a forklift, and a pickup truck, according to the Coast Guard. Ferries are a vital means of transport in the Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,600 islands, where millions rely on boats to travel between provinces. The country has a poor maritime safety record, with previous ferry disasters linked to overcrowding, rough weather, and weak enforcement of safety regulations.