A TWO-YEAR-OLD boy was missing and feared dead while 21 other people were rescued when a wooden-hulled passenger-cargo vessel sank off Sibutu, Tawi-Tawi province, a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) official said Friday.

Lieutenant Commander Elizer Dalnay, spokesman of the South-Western Mindanao Coast Guard District, said the vessel, M/L Virginia, sank around 3 p.m. Wednesday near Tongabakkaan Island, Sibutu town.

Dalnay said M/L Virginia was traveling to Sipangkot Island, Sitangkai town, coming from Bongao, the capital of Tawi-Tawi when its engine conked out.

Dalnay said the vessel, carrying 22 people, including eight crewmen, sank after it drifted to a shallow-rocky area in Tongbakkaan, Sibutu town.

M/L Virginia’s passengers and crewmen were rescued by the crew of M/L Piaksah, a wooden-hulled vessel, that passed by the area, Dalnay said.

M/L Virginia left the Chinese Pier in Bongao town around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday despite without clearance from the coast guard station in the area, he added.

He said they have alerted all vessels plying in the area to be on the look-out for the missing boy.