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Sunday, March 07, 2004
2 of 3 bodies in burned ferry from Oro, MisOr
* Victims' families accuse WG&A of using Abu claim to escape culpability
* Coast Guard says other survivors may have been picked up by passing vessels
THE two victims that were retrieved from the sunken Super Ferry 14 vessel last Wednesday afternoon came from Cagayan de Oro and Laguindingan town, Misamis Oriental.
The victims were identified as 23-year-old Cristine Robico, a resident of Cagayan de Oro with the second victim named Clyde Paculba, a student of Laguindingan National High School.
Paculba is said to be with a teacher whose identity and remains have yet to be uncovered as of presstime. He was with other students in Region 10 who joined a conference on campus journalism held at Laguna.
Earlier the regional office of the Department of Education (DepEd) 10 said all students and teachers from Cagayan de Oro have been accounted for.
Three other bodies were found inside the bathroom of the vessel all scattered among the debris.
It was learned that some of the victims' families accompanied the recovery teams while some of the relatives of those still missing joined in the search for any sign of their loved ones.
In the latest manifest posted by the Coast Guard more than 100 passengers are still missing. It was still believed by some that there are passengers trapped inside the sunken vessel.
However, efforts to recover the bodies are fading fast with search and rescue teams finding it increasingly frustrating to look for signs of life and the families slowly accepting the harsh possibility that their loved ones may long be gone.
The tragedy occurred last Friday and the search had largely met with losses. The WG&A offices here in Cagayan de Oro and the rest of the country are being swamped with complaints from the relatives.
The families of the victims in the WG&A Super Ferry 14 tragedy are unconvinced that the maritime mishap was the work of terrorists, saying there are many angles in the incident that aren't looked into.
They said the "Abu Sayaff angle" was being foisted by the WG&A management to escape culpability in the accident.
The Abu Sayaff claim had been dismissed by the military. The families and survivors said the incident may have been one of gross negligence on the part of their crew.
The survivors said they believed that the blaze started in the airconditioning unit that was located at the vessel's center.
They said they heard reports that the aircon unit already had problems before the ship left from Manila.
But the victims also added that they strongly believed that "sabotage" is one of the angles that caused the incident.
The Coast Guard on the other hand believed there are other survivors that were picked up by passing vessels. However these reports are still unconfirmed as of presstime. (From Sun.Star Superbalita)
(March 5, 2004 issue)
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