Ferry sinks; 700 missing

Bodies floating, kidswailing, says survivor
By the Inquirer Staff

WAVES AS TALL AS MOUNTAINS BATTERED THE MV Princess of the Stars and within 15 horrifying minutes, the ferry carrying more than 700 people sank in typhoon-tossed waters off Sibuyan island, one survivor recounted.

“There were many children trapped inside the boat. I could hear them wailing before the boat sank,” said Renato Lanorias, a crew member of the 23,824-ton ferry who survived by clinging to the rope of a life raft until he hit land, along with three others.

Lanorias said he could not forget the hundreds of bodies floating at sea and the cries for help from the victims as the ship keeled over and went under.

Sen. Richard Gordon, chair of the Philippine National Red Cross, reported 10 deaths from the vessel. But details were skimpy. It was unclear if the six bodies, including a man and woman bound together, that were swept to Sibuyan were among the fatalities.

The other passengers and crew were considered “missing,” said Gordon. “It could be that the others were trapped inside the ship. If that’s the case, they could still be alive and can be rescued.”

A Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) rescue vessel, battling stormy seas and strong winds, reached the ferry yesterday afternoon, one end jutting out of the water upside-down, more than 24 hours after it lost radio contact. There was no sign of survivors.

“They haven’t seen anyone. They’re scouring the areas. They’re studying the direction of the waves to determine where survivors may have drifted,” said Lt. Arman Balilo, PCG spokesperson.

‘I hope many are all right’

PCG Commandant Adm. Wilfredo Tamayo said more rescuers were dispatched to nearby Cresta de Gallo Island south of Sibuyan yesterday. “They will be scouring the other coastal areas to check for the other passengers,” Tamayo said.

“I hope and pray that many are all right,” he said.

However, Tamayo said rescuers on Cresta de Gallo reported late last night that “unfortunately they did not see any body.”

“They’re going to check nearby islands,” Tamayo said.

It was potentially the worst sea disaster to hit the country since the ferry MV Doña Paz collided with an oil tanker in 1987 and left more than 4,000 people dead.

The Princess of the Stars, owned by Sulpicio Lines, sailed from Manila at 8 a.m. on Friday on a 22-hour trip to Cebu City with 626 passengers and 121 crewmen. Among the passengers were 31 infants and 20 children.

Sulpicio Lines, however, said that the ship’s manifest had 725 passengers.

The Coast Guard gave the ferry clearance to depart in spite of storm warnings because it was over 23,000 tons with a capacity of 1,992 passengers.

The other survivors found in Sibuyan with Lanorias were passengers Jesus Cica, Oliver Amorin of Olango Island, and Jessie Boot of Siquijor province, according to Mayor Nanette Tansingco of San Fernando town on the island.

Ferry sank at 11:45 a.m.

Tansingco said most of the survivors had contusions all over the body and lacerations in the head.

She said she also sent a speed boat to check the ill-fated vessel. “They saw the boat upside down with a big hole in the hull.”

Tansingco said at least four bodies were found and children’s slippers were scattered on the shoreline.

Lanorias, in mobile phone interview, said he remembered hitting his face on a rock upon reaching Sibuyan.

He said the overturned ferry sank at around 11:45 a.m. yesterday. Strong winds and big waves apparently broke the lashing that tucked the cargo, causing the ferry to sink, Lanorias said.

A hole in the hull was seen as the ferry lay submerged about a kilometer and a half from the shore of Sibuyan, where it was apparently swept after it listed and toppled farther away—up to 11.2 nautical kilometers (7 nautical miles) off the island, according to the Coast Guard.

‘Abandon ship’

“The waves were almost the size of a mountain,” Lanorias said in a shaky voice. “At around 10 a.m. the ship slowed down and started to dance. I noticed that it was running tilted,” he said in Filipino.

Lanorias said when the captain announced “abandon ship,” many hysterical passengers jumped in the storm-tossed water. He said all 14 lifeboats of the Princess of the Stars were let down but big waves still engulfed some of them.

“We were on a lifeboat for four hours before we reached Barangay Mabini,” Lanorias said in between coughs.

Chief Petty Officer Benito Vidal of the Southern Tagalog Coast Guard Station said his office received reports that the boat had sunk “seven nautical miles, north-southwest of Sibuyan Island, Romblon.”

He said that the ferry had sent a distress signal, saying it had “engine trouble” and “listing,” quoting a report received on Saturday at 12:55 p.m.

Vidal said he had yet to receive reports regarding the current condition of the ferry or the actual cause of its sinking. If the vessel was reported listing, he said that would usually mean the boat really had a hole and was taking in water.

Sulpicio’s last contact

Manuel Espina, Sulpicio Lines spokesperson, said the ferry’s captain, Florencio Marimon, made his last contact with the office at noon on Saturday.

He said the company could not speculate on what happened, saying only that Marimon was a very experienced officer.

Regional Coast Guard officer Cecil Chen said the Princess of the Stars was cleared to leave the port of Manila on Friday morning shortly before the typhoon changed its northwesterly course and slammed across the western islands.

With the typhoon approaching, the vessel was radioed to take shelter, and “the captain attempted to do that,” Chen said. However, the engine failed and the vessel was left stranded in the water off Sibuyan’s southeast coast as the typhoon barreled across the country with peak winds of 170 kph.

“The engine conked out and (with) the vessel dead on the water and no immediate assistance could be rendered on the vessel, it suffered the consequence of drifting to the shallow portion and was grounded,” he said.

Life jackets and debris

Melanie Rotoni, a Sibuyan resident, said she had seen one body as well as debris but no survivors so far.

“Life jackets and debris litter the store. I saw a dead woman in her 40s along the shore, but she was the only body I saw. There is no one else,” she told dzMM radio.

Philippine Navy spokesperson Marine Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo said that at 10:30 a.m., the Navy dispatched two patrol gun boats—one from Masbate and the other from Roxas City—with frogmen to help in the rescue operations for the sunken ship’s passengers and crew. With reports from Nikko Dizon and Leila B. Salaverria in Manila; Madonna T. Virola, Jaymee T. Gamil and Ephraim Aguilar, Inquirer Southern Luzon; Jhunnex Napallacan, Inquirer Visayas, and AP, AFP