GOVERNMENT officials refused to give up hope of rescuing some of the 800 people missing after mv Princess of the Stars capsized last Saturday, even as the still-roiling seas stalled efforts to get inside the vessel yesterday.
Officials of the National Disaster Coordinating Council have raised the number of confirmed survivors from 28 persons earlier in the day to 57. The confirmed dead also rose from 16 to 20.
The 28 survivors reported earlier were found in a lifeboat on the shoreline of Mulanay town in Quezon province, while 25 survivors were found on the shores of Burias Island in Masbate province.
Four survivors were found washed ashore in San Fernando, Romblon last Sunday.
Divers heard no response when they hammered on the tip of the 23,824-ton Princess of the Stars that was jutting from the water off Sibuyan Island.
“We’re not ruling out that somebody there is still alive,” Coast Guard Chief Wilfredo Tamayo said. “You can never tell.”
But strong waves that have largely kept a small flotilla of rescue ships at bay continued to pound the area yesterday, leaving officials to plan the best way to get inside—either with divers from below or by a hole that would be drilled in the hull, Tamayo said.
A US Navy ship carrying search-and-rescue helicopters was expected to arrive from Okinawa late yesterday, and a P-3 maritime surveillance plane also was being dispatched.
However, hope dwindled by the hour that large groups of survivors might be found in areas where communications were cut off by the weekend storm that left at least 163 people dead in flooded communities.
The Coast Guard said it was checking a survivor’s report that at least one group of people—some dead, some alive—had been spotted bobbing in the sea.
Eleandro Madrona, a local congressman who flew over the ferry yesterday afternoon, reported seeing only a tugboat nearby because of the conditions.
“I was thinking, where could these 700 people be?” Madrona said. “There’s no operation there at this time, but the search and rescue is ongoing in nearby islands.”
While some relatives tearfully waited for news, others were angry that the ship was allowed to leave Manila late Friday for a 20-hour trip to Cebu with a typhoon approaching.
Gloria Basilio said the vessel would not have capsized had the trip been aborted or had the ship taken shelter to allow the storm to pass.
Basilio and her two children boarded a Super Ferry vessel that left Manila ahead of mv Princess of the Stars. But her third child took the ill-fated vessel.
Super Ferry reportedly took shelter in Batangas but Princess of the Stars continued on its trip until it capsized in the seas off Romblon.
“I don’t want to be paid out of their negligence, I want justice. We took shelter in Batangas pero ang Sulpicio, nagpahero-hero.
A man, whose relative also boarded Princess of the Stars, demanded that a representative of the shipping firm attend to their needs, then out of frustration slammed a table with his fist.
A father told reporters that his eldest son, who was scheduled to leave for Canada, was also among the ship’s passengers.
A mother could not hold back her emotion as she recalled that her 16-year-old daughter, a high school student, texted her so she would meet her at the Cebu City pier on Saturday.
“I was there at the pier, there was no sign of her. I only found out that the vessel had capsized,” she told reporters between sobs. (AP/GC)
