700 missing after Philippines typhoon sinks ferry

[E-Q]

By PAUL ALEXANDER, Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines - Hundreds of passengers were feared trapped and may have died after their ferry capsized in the Philippines during Typhoon Fengshen, said two survivors who struggled to shore Sunday.

The storm left at least 155 dead, submerging entire communities and setting off landslides, said Sen. Richard Gordon, head of the national Red Cross, but there were concerns the death toll would jump dramatically.

The 72 people listed as missing did not include the more than 740 passengers and crew aboard the MV Princess of Stars, and worried relatives wept as they waited for news. Gordon said he has asked U.S. authorities for help in finding anyone who might still be alive inside the ferry and was told "they are going to try very, very hard."

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 at the site, 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 had 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 DZMM radio after making it to shore by 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-slickened 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 ferry initially ran aground a few miles 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.

Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday he was praying for the victims of the ferry disaster.

Benedict told pilgrims in St. Peter's Square that he learned with great emotion of the tragedy and expressed particular sorrow that apparently many children were feared to be among the victims.

He said he felt spiritually close to all those hit by the typhoon. The Philippines is predominantly Catholic.

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

In the central province of Iloilo, Gov. Neil Tupaz said 59 people drowned, with another 40 missing.

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

Packing sustained winds of 74 miles per hour and gusts of up to 93 mph, 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 — with 626 passengers and 121 crew members on board — 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.



A cargo ship used for carrying livestock lists against a break wall in Manila Bay June 22, 2008. Typhoon Fengshen, with maximum gusts of 195 kph (121 mph), has killed at least 85 people in central and southern Philippines, including 59 in Iloilo province, where floodwaters submerged whole communities. After pelting Manila with torrential rain and winds on Sunday, Fengshen is expected to exit the northern part of the country by Monday en route to Taiwan, where it could make landfall in the next few days.
REUTERS/Darren


A pizza deliver driver makes his way through a flooded street as Typhoon Fengshen rolls over Manila June 22, 2008. Typhoon Fengshen has killed 155 people in the Philippines in a torrent of flashfloods and landslides, the head of the Philippines Red Cross, Richard Gordon, told local radio on Sunday.
REUTERS/John Javellana


Vehicles submerged on a floodwaters after Typhoon Fengshen hit the province of Iloilo city, central Philippines June 22, 2008. Typhoon Fengshen, with maximum gusts of 195 kph (121 mph), has killed at least 85 people in central and southern Philippines, including 59 in Iloilo province, where floodwaters submerged whole communities.
REUTERS/Leo Solinap (PHILIPPINES)

[E-Q]

By James Mananghaya
Monday, June 23, 2008
As the death toll nationwide from Typhoon ‘Frank’ soared to 229 yesterday, more than 700 passengers and crew were missing after a ferry capsized last Saturday off Sibuyan Island in Romblon.

Mayor Nanette Tansingco of San Fernando town on Sibuyan Island said the three survivors, who were not immediately identified, were found in remote coastal villages in her town several kilometers from where the ill-fated M/V Princess of the Stars capsized then sank.

Tansingco reported that four bodies were also found washed ashore after the 23-ton ferry owned by Sulpicio Lines sank.

Tansingco identified one of the survivors as Jessie Boot, 30, of Siquijor.

She said Boot identified himself as part of the crew of the Princess of the Star.

Another survivor, crewmember Reynato Lanorio, told radio dzBB that the captain of the ferry “gave the orders to abandon ship shortly after it listed,” sending passengers and crew scrambling for life rafts.

“Many of us managed to get on the lifeboats, but I don’t know if they survived,” Lanorio said. Four other people on his raft were wrenched away by the big waves while he clung on for dear life.

“I did not let go of the rope tied to the side of the raft,” he said.

Lanorio said the sinking occurred around noon on Saturday, 16 hours into the 22-hour voyage, while the passengers were eating lunch. The captain ordered the 121-crew to man their stations as the ship tilted to one side.

But the other survivors told GMA news that the crew were so busy saving themselves that they did not help passengers to lifeboats or into safety vests.

Another survivor Jesus Gica said many people jumped overboard but he doubted whether many would have survived due to the rough seas.

The Coast Guard said earlier the ferry probably got holed below the water line after its engine failed and drifted to shallow waters, having been advised on radio to seek shelter from the coming typhoon.

Lt. Cdr. Armand Balilo, Coast Guard spokesman, said the ferry with 626 passengers and 121 crew members left the Port of Manila last Friday afternoon bound for Cebu.

He said the ship encountered engine trouble and was stranded off Sibuyan’s southeast coast.

Romblon Rep. Eleandro Madrona reported to the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) that the captain of the ferry issued the order to abandon ship at 4 p.m. last Saturday after the hull started to leak and water entered the engine room.

Mayor Tansingco said the vessel later flipped over, with only its bow seen above the stormy waters on Sunday. However, rescuers could not approach because of the rough seas.

Madrona said it is possible there are survivors who managed to swim to safety on the tiny island of Cresta de Gallo southeast of San Fernando.

President Arroyo, on a plane halfway to the United States for an official visit, had criticized the authorities for failing to stop the vessel from sailing.

Balilo said Sulpicio Lines did not violate any regulation set by the Coast Guard. He said the ship left port at Manila’s North Harbor last Friday afternoon when the weather bureau had raised only typhoon signal No. 1.

“All ships cannot travel when it is typhoon signal no. 3. However, it was just at typhoon signal No. 1 when the ship left,” he added.

He said the ship capsized at seven nautical miles southwest of Sibuyan Island, Romblon last Saturday.

The ship’s weight is 23 gross tons and was cleared to leave by the Coast Guard last Friday, thinking that the vessel could handle the storm that was just typhoon signal No. 1 when it left port.

Rescue operations had immediately started since Saturday, he said.

Balilo said two Coast Guard boats, BRP Batangas and BRP Davao del Norte, and two tugboats were deployed in the area.

Vice President Noli de Castro, presiding over the meeting yesterday of disaster officials at the OCD in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, vowed to prosecute some officials found to have neglected their duties.

Mrs. Arroyo, who is on her way to the US for an official visit, gave Coast Guard chief Vice Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo a dressing down during a telephone conversation after the Coast Guard allowed Princess of the Stars to leave port despite the bad weather.

During a teleconference that was presided over by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita at the OCD, Mrs. Arroyo’s temper flared up while she was talking to Tamayo by telephone when she ordered him to explain why the vessel was allowed to sail.

Tamayo tried to explain to the President that vessels the size of the M/V Princess of the Stars are not covered by the warning issued by authorities.

Apparently, Tamayo was scolded because the President thought that all sea-going vessels were barred from sailing.

When the two understood each other, the President ordered Tamayo to revise the warning system for sea vessels during calamities such as typhoons.

Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo, Navy spokesman, said that they have received information that survivors from the ferry sinking were sighted on Isla de Gallo and naval boats were immediately deployed to rescue the victims.

Arevalo said Navy gunboat PG 378 and PG 394, stationed in Masbate and Roxas City were dispatched to conduct search and rescue operations.

He said they are also preparing to dispatch BRP Cebu City, a larger vessel that has a medical team on board.

Meanwhile, seven fishermen were reported missing while 27 others were rescued after three fishing boats capsized due to strong waves in three different incidents off the coast of Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur over the weekend.

Police said that at about 10 a.m. last Friday the fishing boat Trina, owned by Albert Paronda, with 17 crew capsized off Sitio Nagubat, Gigaquit, and Surigao del Norte. The victims were all rescued.

Two other fishing boats M/B Meme II, with 18 fishermen, and M/B Balljack Tricks, with 11 crew capsized off General Luna in Surigao del Sur.

The crew of Meme II are still missing while the fishermen of Balljack Tricks were rescued.

At least 1,500 passengers of 200 RORO (roll-on roll-off) vessels were stranded at the Batangas Port after authorities cancelled all sea travel going to Mindoro and Romblon.

Fe Faytaren, Operations Manager of Asian Terminal in Batangas Port, said at least 10 scheduled trips going to Calapan in Oriental Mindoro, Romblon, Abra de Ilog and San Jose, Occidental Mindoro were canceled since 11p.m. last Friday.

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