Philippine ferry sinks, 700 aboard missing

[SlowwHand]

Yet another catastrophe.

By Manny Mogato and Rosemarie Francisco
1 hour, 58 minutes ago

MANILA (Reuters) - More than 700 people were missing on Sunday after a Philippine passenger ship capsized in a typhoon that has killed scores and left a trail of destruction across the archipelago.

Only four people are so far known to have survived the ferry disaster and they said many passengers did not make it off the MV Princess of Stars in time.

Crowded life-rafts sank in the cold, storm-tossed seas.

"Many of us jumped, the waves were so huge, and the rains were heavy," a survivor identified only as Jesse told local radio.

"There was just one announcement over the megaphone, about 30 minutes before the ship tilted to its side."

"Immediately after I jumped, the ship tilted, the older people were left on the ship."

A coast guard vessel trawling the waters around the 23,824 gross tonne ferry, which is upside down with only its bow above the waves, was trying to confirm reports some passengers had made it to a small island.

"We are hoping more people will have reached the shoreline," Vice Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo, the head of the coast guard, told Reuters.

NO GOOD NEWS

Princess of Stars ran aground on Saturday but the coast guard was unable to reach it because of huge swells and bad weather caused by Typhoon Fengshen, which crashed into the central Philippines on Friday.

Four people have been confirmed dead but most of the 620-plus passengers and 121 crew remain missing. Children's slippers and life jackets have washed ashore.

According to the ship's manifest, there were 20 children and 33 infants on board.

At least two other coast guard vessels were en route to help in rescue efforts and Tamayo said he hoped divers would be able to scour the submerged ship on Monday.

He said there was no sign fuel was leaking from the ferry but said an oil-spill response team would arrive with one of the two coast guard ships before dawn on Monday.

Princess of Stars sank 3 km (two miles) from Sibuyan island in the centre of the archipelago.

The vessel's owner, Sulpicio Lines, said it had lost contact with the ferry, which was en route to Cebu from Manila, at around 12.30 p.m. (0430 GMT) on Saturday.

Dozens of relatives, some in tears, crowded into the offices of Sulpicio Lines in the central city of Cebu, looking for information.

"My father was one of the passengers. Right now there is no good news," said Lani Dakay. "My father is 59, I don't even know if he can swim."

HIT BAD

Typhoon Fengshen, with maximum gusts of 195 kph (121 mph), has killed at least 155 people in central and southern Philippines, including 101 in Iloilo province, where floodwaters submerged whole communities.

"Iloilo is like an ocean. This is the worst disaster we have had in our history," Governor Neil Tupaz told local radio.

Tens of thousands of people in the province remain marooned on the roofs of their submerged houses.

In neighboring Capiz, more than 2,000 houses were destroyed in the provincial capital and officials were struggling to make contact with communities further afield.

"We got hit real bad this time," said Richard Gordon, the chairman of the Philippines' Red Cross.

After battering Manila on Sunday, Fengshen was expected to exit the north of the country by Monday en route to Taiwan, where it could make landfall in the next few days, according to storm tracker website www.tropicalstormrisk.com.

More than 20,000 people were being housed in evacuation centers in the centre and south of the archipelago.

An archipelago of more than 7,000 islands, the Philippines is hit by an average of 20 typhoons a year.

(Writing by Carmel Crimmins; Editing by Charles Dick)

[Lancer]

Dolores thinks thats from Manila area to Cebu, around there.

Our family there told us they've been staying inside because of the storm with big waves.

[SlowwHand]

I was wondering if this might have some direct effect on people you knew.

[Lancer]

"The vessel's owner, Sulpicio Lines, said it had lost contact with the ferry, which was en route to Cebu from Manila, at around 12.30 p.m. (0430 GMT) on Saturday."

No people we know Sloww, thanks for thinking of them... Thank God no family people traveling that we know of. Man, all those people! Thing with the Phils is that if the ships stop, so does the country. It would compare to shutting down the highway system in the US.

[Lancer]

""Iloilo is like an ocean. This is the worst disaster we have had in our history," Governor Neil Tupaz told local radio. "


Iloilo is a rather large Visayas city to the north and west of Bohol. Seems like the worst missed our island to the north, but don't really know yet. This is considered Visayas region which is central Philippines. The Visayas have their own language, Visayan aka Cebuano. Cebu being the cap of the Visayas. Bohol is visayan and that's the language of Dolores. It's the Visayas people that are so wonderful, this is really a trial for those involved.

[Patroklos]

Why were people using a ferry during a typhoon?

[Lancer]

Good question. Likely they had to be somewhere like work or catch a flight and took the chance. Lots of ferrys go in bad weather, few sink. Same as us driving in a storm, almost everyone does it. Still, obviously it would be wise not to considering the result.

[BeBMan]

[Lancer]

Here's news direct from the Phils where it's called typhoon 'Frank". Some is in Tagalog but not much.

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/102661/Western-Visayas-hardest-hit-by-Frank---NDCC

Home > Regions > Visayas Western Visayas hardest hit by ‘Frank’ - NDCC
06/22/2008 | 10:57 PM

Email this | Email the Editor | Print | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us MANILA, Philippines - Western Visayas has so far bore the brunt of the damage caused by typhoon "Frank," the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said Sunday night.

NDCC spokesman Anthony Golez Jr. said rescue and relief operations are now concentrated on the provinces in the region, including Iloilo, Antique, Negros Occidental and Capiz.

"Ang pinakamalaking pinsala base sa initial reports Region 6, particularly Iloilo, Antique, Negros Occidental at Capiz. Diyan tayo naka-concentrate ngayon particularly rescue and relief (The hardest hit area so far is Western Visayas, particularly Iloilo, Antique, Negros Occidental and Capiz. That's where we are concentrating our rescue and relief operations)," Golez said in an interview on dzBB radio.

Citing updated reports reaching the NDCC, he said "Frank" has so far affected a total of 613 villages or 82,571 families. Of these, 33,000 had been served at evacuation centers.

Golez said that in Aklan, mud from flash floods were five inches thick, even as residents there need clean water and relief goods.

But he said they are still verifying the deaths in the Western Visayas area.

He said that in Western Visayas they have so far confirmed only four deaths, but reports reaching the NDCC indicate as many as 70 may have died. - GMANews.TV

[Lancer]

More on the ferry...

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/102638/Rescuers-reach-stricken-ferry-typhoon-death-toll-hits-229

Home > Nation > Top Stories Rescuers reach stricken ferry; typhoon death toll hits 229
06/22/2008 | 06:19 PM

Email this | Email the Editor | Print | Digg this | Add to del.icio.us MANILA, Philippines - Two men who struggled to shore after a passenger ferry capsized in the Philippines during typhoon "Frank" (Fengshen) said Sunday hundreds of people may have died when they were trapped inside.

The storm left at least 229 dead, the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) said.

"Frank" submerged entire communities and set off landslides, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said, but there were concerns the death toll would jump dramatically.

The 72 people listed as missing did not include the more than 800 passengers and crew aboard the "MV Princess of Stars," and worried relatives wept as they waited for news.

A rescue ship battling huge waves and strong winds reached the ferry Sunday, one end jutting out of the water upside-down, more than 24 hours after it lost radio contact. There was no sign of survivors, and only four people who were on board were known to have reached shore alive.

"They haven't seen anyone. They're scouring the area. They're studying the direction of the waves to determine where survivors may have drifted," coast guard spokesman Lt. Senior Grade Arman Balilo said.

Villagers found six bodies — including a man and a woman who bound themselves together — along with children's slippers and life jackets that washed ashore nearby.

Officials were checking reports that a large number of survivors might have reached one nearby island and that a lift raft was spotted off another, coast guard spokesman Cmdr. Antonio Cuasito said.

"We can only pray that there are many survivors so we can reduce the number of casualties," he said.

Reynato Lanoria, a janitor on the ship, estimated about 100 people could have survived, "but the others were trapped inside."

"I think they are all dead by now," he told a radio station after jumping in the water and reaching a life raft.

Lanoria said he was on the top deck when a crew member ordered people to put on life vests around 11:30 a.m. Saturday. About 30 minutes later, the ship tilted as elderly people and children fell on the rain-slick deck.

Passenger Jesus Gica also worried that many people were trapped below when the ship listed.

"There were many of us who jumped overboard, but we were separated because of the big waves," he said. "The others were also able to board the life rafts, but it was useless because the strong winds flipped them over."

The national death toll included 59 people who drowned in the central province of Iloilo, with another 40 missing, Gov. Neil Tupaz said.

"Almost all the towns are covered by water. It's like an ocean," Tupaz said, adding thousands have been displaced in the province that is home to 1.7 million people.

The ferry initially ran aground a few miles (kilometers) off central Sibuyan island Saturday, then capsized, said Mayor Nanette Tansingco of Sibuyan's San Fernando.

With the upturned ferry visible from her town, she appealed for food, medicine and formalin to embalm bodies.

The typhoon lashed the central Philippines for about four hours Saturday, setting off landslides and floods, knocking out power and blowing off roofs.

Packing sustained winds of 74 miles (120 kilometers) per hour and gusts of up to 93 mph (150 kph), the typhoon shifted course Sunday to the northwest and battered Manila at dawn, dumping heavy rain on the capital. Major streets were flooded, and numerous traffic lights were out.

Rescue vessels aborted an initial attempt Saturday to get to the 23,824-ton ferry. Efforts resumed in stormy weather Sunday, coast guard chief Vice Adm. Wilfredo Tamayo said, although the churning sea kept smaller vessels away. Four coast guard ships and three from the navy were deployed, and the air force was asked to send aircraft as soon as the weather clears.

The ferry was "dead in the water" after its engine failed around noon Saturday, Tamayo said.

About two dozen relatives trooped to the Manila office of Sulpicio Lines, some quietly weeping as they waited for news about their loved ones.

"I'm very worried. I need to know what happened to my family," said Felino Farionin, his voice cracking. His wife, son and four in-laws were on the ferry.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who left for the United States late Saturday, talked to officials in a teleconference aired live on nationwide radio Sunday, scolding coast guard officials for allowing the ferry to leave Manila late Friday despite the bad weather.

Ferries are the main form of inter-island transportation in the sprawling Philippine archipelago, site of the world's worst peacetime maritime disaster when the ferry MV Dona Paz sank in 1987, killing more than 4,341 people. - AP

[LordShiva]

700 people? Daaamn.

How far is it between Manila and Cebu? Would someone be able to swim to shore if teh ferry sank in teh middle of its journey?

[Lancer]

Takes a ferry about 24ish hours from Manila, I've done the trip twice. Most of the time you sail between other island though... Waves must have been too much, plus the boat flipped and people were trapped.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by LordShiva
700 people? Daaamn.

How far is it between Manila and Cebu? Would someone be able to swim to shore if teh ferry sank in teh middle of its journey?

Islands are everywhere. Four people were able to swim to shore. Others were probably swept away. Rapping on the hull to see if anyone was trapped inside got no response.

President Aquino is also asking why the ferry was allowed to leave.

[Kuciwalker]

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Sadly, in spite of living in an archipelago nation, surprisingly few Filipinos seem to know how to swim. I wouldn't count on many survivors.