Ferry disaster off Cebu

[dirtypierre]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-17/an-cebu-ferry-down-breaking/4893842?WT.mc_id=newsmail

Ferry hit a cargo ship at 9 pm last night with 17 confirmed dead and many still unaccounted for.

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[webfact]

24 dead, hundreds missing in Philippine ferry sinking

Rescuers were searching Saturday for more than 200 people missing after a ferry sank in the central Philippines, killing at least 24 people, the coast guard said.

The MV St Thomas Aquinas was carrying 814 people when it collided with a cargo ship off the port of Talisay City in Cebu province, 580 kilometres south of Manila, on Friday evening.

Emergency workers rescued 629 survivors from the sea overnight, said coast guard vice commandant Rear Admiral Luis Tuason Jr.

He said divers and helicopters were dispatched to help in the rescue operations, adding that there were fears that some people had been trapped inside the sunken ferry.

17 dead, 575 rescued in Philippines ferry sinking

The death toll from a collision between a cargo ship and a passenger ferry off the waters of the central Philippines rose to 17 on Friday, the coast guard said.

Emergency workers rescued 575 passengers from the sea off Talisay City in Cebu province, 580 kilometres south of Manila, where the MV Saint Thomas of Aquinas sank, officials said.

Philippines coastguard says 253 rescued from sunk ferry carrying nearly 700

Rescuers saved 253 people from a ferry that sank after a collision in the central Philippines and were searching for hundreds still unaccounted for, a coastguard spokesman said.

Five people were confirmed dead after the incident late on Friday, Commander Armand Balilo said.

Full story: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_08_17/Philippine-boat-crash-death-toll-climbs-to-24-1139/

-- THE VOICE OF RUSSIA 2013-08-17

[webfact]

Death toll in Philippine ferry sinking up to 35

The death toll in a ferry sinking in the central Philippines rose to 35 as rescuers searched for more than 200 still missing Saturday, the military said.

Emergency workers have rescued 630 people from the waters off Talisay City in Cebu province, 580 kilometres south of Manila, where the MV St Thomas Aquinas sank Friday evening after colliding with a cargo ship.

Lieutenant Jim Alagao, spokesman for the military's central command, said 216 people were still missing.

The coast guard said 870 people were on board the ferry. But the ship's owner said only 841 people were on its initial manifest. The vessel has an authorized capacity of 1,010.

Source: : http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_08_17/Death-toll-in-Philippine-ferry-sinking-up-to-35-8560/

-- THE VOICE OF RUSSIA 2013-08-17

[KED]

It is so sad that their are not collision avoiding sonar on these ships, like airplanes have. Sad that peoples lives are not worth more safety equipment. R.I.P.

[Marcel1]

True, strange to see that these accidents still can happen in these times with ships of these sizes

[webfact]

28 dead, hundreds missing after ferry sinks off the Philippines

TALISAY CITY, PHILIPPINES (BNO NEWS) -- At least 28 people have been killed and more than 200 others remain missing after a ferry sank near the central Philippine port of Cebu after colliding with a cargo vessel on late Friday evening, local rescue authorities confirmed Saturday.

The accident occurred at around 9:03 p.m. local time on Friday when the cargo vessel M/V Sulpicio Express 7 collided with the passenger vessel M/V St. Thomas Aquinas near Talisay City in central Cebu province. The cargo vessel had 38 crew members on board while the ferry was carrying 841 people, including 723 passengers and 118 crew members.

"Immediately after the collision, the crew of the M/V St. Thomas distributed life jackets to the passengers and carried out emergency abandon-ship procedures," the ferry's owner, 2GO Shipping, said in a statement. "At the same time, the ship's officers sent a distress signal to the nearest Philippine Coast Guard Station to alert them for immediate rescue operations."

A rescue operation was continuing on late Saturday morning, involving vessels and a helicopter from both the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard. Three vessels from 2GO Group, local fishing boats, and equipment from the cargo vessel's owner, the Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corporation (PSACC), were also participating in the operation.

The Philippine Coast Guard said 28 bodies had been recovered by noon local time, but 213 others remained missing, while 629 people had been rescued. "All the crew of M/V Sulpicio Express 7 are all safe and accounted-for," said Eduardo del Rosario, the Executive Director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

Del Rosario said injured victims were being treated at hospitals in Talisay and Cebu City, but it was not immediately clear how many of the survivors were injured or what their conditions are. "Management of 2GO Shipping Lines provided relief assistance to survivors," he said, explaining that the company provided temporary shelter and hot meals to more than 300 survivors who were taken to Cebu City.

"Meal packs and dry clothes have been distributed to passengers. Those needing medical attention have been attended to by onsite medical personnel while others have already been brought to nearby hospitals," 2GO Shipping said in its statement. "The rest of the passengers have been offered accommodations at a nearby hotel."

2GO Shipping said its ferry was coming from Surigao and Nasipit port and was expected to arrive in Cebu City as a stopover port at 10 p.m. local time, before continuing to the capital Manila. It said the vessel had a maximum capacity of 1,010 passengers and crew and 160 units of 20 footer containers, although it was only carrying 104 such containers.

Accidents at sea are common in the Philippines due to severe weather, poor maintenance of boats and weak enforcement of safety regulations. At least 690 people were killed in June 2008 when the ferry MV Princess of the Stars capsized and sank during a powerful typhoon off the coast of San Fernando in the central province of Romblon.

The world's worst ever peacetime maritime disaster also occurred in the Philippines. An estimated 4,341 people were killed in December 1987 when the passenger ferry MV Dona Paz collided with the oil tanker MT Vector in the Tablas Strait, not far from the central province of Marinduque.

(Copyright 2013 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: [email protected].)

-- 2013-08-17

[CIHUAHUA]

I've used those boats out of Cebu and it is like going back in time over a hundred years. They stuff as many people on board as they can. Everyone does the sign of the cross when they board and so did I. When arriving everyone is so happy. "God willing."

[metisdead]

A nonsense troll post has been removed.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Interesting that for all the news reports above, there's almost no information about how or why the two ships collided, or what the conditions at sea were at the time.

Not that those kinds of details really matter too much...

[marell]

I've used those boats out of Cebu and it is like going back in time over a hundred years. They stuff as many people on board as they can. Everyone does the sign of the cross when they board and so did I. When arriving everyone is so happy. "God willing."

Same here. The overcrowding and complete lack of safety procedures is appalling. These boats are beyond being accidents waiting to happen...they're accidents trying to happen.

[simple1]

It is so sad that their are not collision avoiding sonar on these ships, like airplanes have. Sad that peoples lives are not worth more safety equipment. R.I.P.

I used to sell collision avoidance radar systems in the UK, mainly for container ships and oil tankers, in the early 1970s from Raytheon. The technology has been available for many years if the owners want to invest the money for safety.

[Local farang]

It is so sad that their are not collision avoiding sonar on these ships, like airplanes have. Sad that peoples lives are not worth more safety equipment. R.I.P.

They do It is caled AIS.

Automatic identificaton system Transponder

[Jingthing]

I've used those boats out of Cebu and it is like going back in time over a hundred years. They stuff as many people on board as they can. Everyone does the sign of the cross when they board and so did I. When arriving everyone is so happy. "God willing."

Yep, that's what it's like.

[penwithcris]

This terrible disaster has become a regular occurrence in the Philippines. Fortunately i was always able to afford to fly to Cebu and then on to Bohol although this mode of transport was not without its risks

Not that overcrowding was the reason for this tragedy but I have watched the passenger loading procedure and there is no attempt to control or monitor passenger numbers

It seems unlikely that safety will ever become a priority in the Phil. Human suffering is just an unfortunate fact of life

[bangarang]

It seems like ferry disasters is just as well known for the Philippines as Chicken Adobo. You would think that with all these disasters for the past decade that someone could step in and fix the problem. Even when I was living in the US I saw these ferry disasters in the news.

It seems like riding one of these things is like playing russian roulette. I will fly thank you.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Wow... it's almost the same kind of thing as in Thailand:

--taking a tour bus

--taking a city to city mini van

--taking an island speed boat

--or even lately, an SRT passenger rail train.

Based on recent events and past episodes, you're putting your life at risk using any of those far too often here in LOS.

I'm pretty sure, if Thailand had a larger ferry boat presence, we'd be right up there with the Phils competing for the disasters title.

[Asia2000]

According to the local TV news here in Cebu, 2Go passenger ferry cut in front of the cargo ship.

2Go ferry should have given way for the cargo vessel.

The passenger ferry seems to be at fault, crossing the bow of the cargo ship.

Government suspended yesterday the fleets of 2Go ferries.

So far: 32 dead - 751 survivors - search for 58

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/local-news/2013/08/18/32-dead-751-survivors-search-58-resume-298452

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/local-news/2013/08/18/marina-suspends-fleets-2go-span-asia-298453

Asia2000

Cebu

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Well, to be fair, the second news report linked above says the PH government has suspended both companies pending the resurts of the investigation into the crash.

There also, according to the article, are conflicting accounts from the crews of the two different ships of how the crash happened. Each side blaming the other.

The accounts do pretty clearly say it was the passenger ship that was hit on its starboard side by the cargo ship. But the passenger ship itself was a converted cargo ship of about the same size as the other vessel.

There are also allusions in the two articles to the cargo ship company having had another major accident in 1998.

Cebu City Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella asked the Coast Guard to keep searching for the 58 persons who may still be at sea.

Labella, who survived the 1998 sinking of Sulpicio Lines’ Princess of the Orient, said there is still a big chance of finding survivors.

A representative of the Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corp. (formerly Sulpicio Lines) said that the officers of the Sulpicio Express 7 radioed the M/V Thomas Aquinas and asked them not to cross the cargo vessel’s path.

[Oishii]

It is so sad that their are not collision avoiding sonar on these ships, like airplanes have. Sad that peoples lives are not worth more safety equipment. R.I.P.

Things are cheap in The Philippines, even life. Sad, but true.

Sex: The most fun you can have without laughing. Woody Allen.

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[catweazle]

RIP to the victims, conolences to their family and friends.

Sad news also for the Thai bashers, because this disaster happened in the Philippines.