CEBU: At least 24 people are dead and 274 are missing after a ferry in the Philippines collided with a cargo ship, the coastguard's deputy chief told AFP on Saturday.

The Thomas Aquinas ferry was carrying 870 people when in quickly sank on Friday night following the collision near the port of Cebu, the country's second biggest city, said Rear Admiral Luis Tuason, vice commandant of the Philippine coastguard.

He said 572 others had been rescued.