At least 5 dead, dozens missing from sea mishap

Five people were killed and dozens were left missing after a ferry carrying nearly 1,000 passengers sank in darkness off the southern Philippines on Sunday, officials said. In the latest tragedy to hit the Philippines’ notoriously dangerous maritime transport industry, survivors reported mass panic as the SuperFerry 9 began tilting sharply well before dawn.

“They told us to stay calm, but we could see no sign of rescue. Not for two hours,” survivor Manuel Malicsi told Radio Mindanao Network (RMN).

Nine hundred people onboard were rescued, but five were confirmed killed and by Sunday afternoon 63 passengers or crewmembers remained unaccounted for, the Philippine Coast Guard said in a statement.

“We are searching all possible areas [for the missing people],” the coast guard chief, Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo, said in a radio interview.

“Navy ships [and] Air Force aircraft are still scouring the area,” he added.

Tamayo offered hope for the relatives of those still missing, saying some may have drifted away in life rafts or been picked up by private boats that took part in the rescue.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro also said local officials were checking to see if any survivors had already reached shore.

Stunned survivors

In Zamboanga City, stunned survivors could be seen disembarking from the boats that rescued them, many of them still half-naked and barefoot after leaping into the water.

The ferry issued a distress call around 3:30 a.m., 11 kilometers off the coast of Zamboanga peninsula and some 19 hours into its journey from General Santos City to Iloilo City.

“At 8:30 in the morning, the vessel is completely capsized,” said Army First Lt. Steffani Cacho, a spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command.

The coast guard report said the SuperFerry 9, a steel-hulled vessel made in Japan in 1986, had reported having 968 people onboard, below its legal capacity of 1,120 passengers and crew.

Authorities and passengers said some people had jumped into the water in panic as the vessel began to tilt to one side, while others were able to get into lifeboats.

“The ship shifted suddenly and some people just panicked,” Roger Sicharon, one of the passengers from the stricken vessel, earlier told dzMM radio by mobile phone as he waited to be transferred to another ship by life raft.

The coast guard said nearby fishing and other private boats, as well as those from the military, had all helped in the rescue.

Cacho said, “About 30 life crafts were deployed and also four Navy patrol vessels, two civilian ships, the MV
Myriad and MV Ocean Integrity, are conducting rescue operations together with the coast guard. Two UH-1H choppers and two OV-10 planes have also deployed to assist in the search and rescue.”

The Army, Navy and Air Force have also joined rescue efforts, officials said. Also, the US military in Zamboanga dispatched aircrafts to help in the rescue.

Assistance for the passengers and crew such as medical, hotel accommodation and transport needs are on standby at the Zamboanga port. SuperFerry 1 will also be arriving to transfer the passengers from Zamboanga to Iloilo and Manila.

Charges to be filed

Philippine Maritime Authority Administrator Elena Bautista warned that criminal charges would be filed if negligence were found to be to blame.

“We had issued a show-cause order to Aboitiz to know how and why this incident happened,” she said.
She added that each of the dead passengers’ families would be receiving P200,000 “as part of policy.”

Bautista said that the passengers were being given choices on how to reach their destination—take a ride on SuperFerry 1 or take a refund and fly aborad a plane.

Even as she talked tough, however, she lauded the management of SuperFerry for the immediate creation of a crisis management team that facilitated the search and rescue efforts along with the
Philippine Coast Guard. “Aboitiz made a commitment to me that they will shoulder all medical expenses as well as the necessary fields in the search and rescue efforts.”

Palace and other reactions

Also on Sunday, President Gloria Arroyo directed the Armed Forces of the Philippines to use everything at its disposal to rescue the remaining passengers of the SuperFerry 9.

“The President instructed Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro to use all the assets of the Armed Forces to rescue the passenger of the ill-fated ferry boat. Although we are searching for 83 passengers, because of the President’s instruction, we were able to rescue many people,” Anthony Golez, deputy presidential spokesman, said in a radio interview.

Golez said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Department of Health were working together to assists those who were injured and have been contacting families of those who died.

“First of all government agencies like the DSWD, the NDCC [National Disaster Coordinating Council] have been coordinating all actions so all the survivors could immediately see their relatives. All of the injured will be brought to the hospital for treatment,” Golez added.

Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. said also on Sunday said he was saddened by the ferry mishap. He was in Zamboanga
City for a speaking engagement at the Western Mindanao State University when he learned about Superferry 9.

“I condole with the families of the victims in this latest sea tragedy and hope that authorities will investigate it thoroughly and make concrete recommendations to keep similar incidents from happening again. We had too many sea tragedies over the years that have resulted in loss of many lives already,” Villar said in a statement.

Cause unknown

Regional coast guard chief Commodore Rudy Isorena said the cause of the accident was not yet clear and the weather in the area had not been too bad.

“We cannot say yet as to the cause as the attention right now is being given to the search and rescue of passengers,” he said in a statement.

But tropical storm Dujuan, off the Philippines’ northeast coast, has heightened the seasonal southwest monsoon winds, bringing rough weather across the country, according to the weather bureau here.

Deadly ferry accidents are common in the Philippines, especially during the typhoon season. (See related front-page story).

Ferries, from large ones such as the SuperFerry 9 to small wooden dugouts with bamboo outriggers, form the backbone of mass transport in the archipelagic nation of 92 million people.

Besides bad weather, poor maintenance, overcrowding of vessels and lax enforcement of regulations have also contributed to the disasters.

The world’s deadliest peacetime maritime disaster occurred south of Manila in 1987 when a ferry laden with Christmas holidaymakers collided with a small oil tanker, killing more than 4,000 people.

In June 2008, a huge ferry, Princess of the Stars capsized during a typhoon off the central island of Sibuyan, leaving almost 800 dead.

In another recent incident, 12 people were killed after a small ferry sank in rough waters south of Manila in May.
AFP And Angelo Samonte With Reports From Al Jacinto, Jefferson Antiporda, Bernice Camille V. Bauzon And Francis Earl A. Cueto