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Saturday, February 28, 2004
Explosion sets off ferry fire; 1 dead
People aboard - 899 people
Vessel capacity - 1,672 people
Missing - 108 (Aboitiz figure),
139 (CG figure)
Casualties - 1 dead, 14 with burn-related injuries (CG figure)
Tonnage of vessel - 10, 192
Fire broke out - before 1 a.m., some 2 hours after leaving port
Rescued - 633 so far
MANILA -- One died while eight were injured and 73 still missing when a passenger ship caught fire near Corregidor Island off the tip of Bataan province Friday dawn.
President Arroyo ordered immediate investigation of the accident as she assured the survivors and families of the fatalities of government assistance.
Two senators, meanwhile, sought a review of maritime laws in the wake of the sea tragedy.
The 10,192-ton Superferry 14, carrying almost 900 passengers, had just left Manila for Bacolod City when the accident occurred shortly before 1:00 a.m., the coast guard said.
Of the 877 crew and passengers on board the ill-fated Superferry 14, 633 have been rescued by other vessels immediately after the incident, according to Gina Virtusio, corporate communications manager of WG&A, which owned the vessel.
This leaves 244 still missing in the accident.
But an ABS-CBN report said only 73 people are still unaccounted for.
Virtusio said Superferry 14 left Manila's North Harbor at 11 p.m. with 702 passengers and some 159 crewmen. The vessel was headed for Bacolod City and was supposed to proceed to Cagayan de Oro City when it caught fire at 12:50 a.m. Friday.
Superferry 9, MV Fortune Express, MV Princess Ivy, Philippine Navy vessels and Coast Guard patrol boats plucked the survivors from the sea, Virtusio said.
An initial report of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) showed that the fire started in the boiler room of the inter-island ship.
Virtusio said the captain of Superferry 14 ordered all passengers and crewmen to abandon ship at 1:29 a.m., minutes before a loud explosion within the broiler room was heard.
Meanwhile, Virtusio said the discrepancy will be "cleared up when we are able to match the names of those rescued and those in the manifest."
Aboitiz had earlier said two passengers had died, but subsequently corrected the figure to only one.
Virtusio held on to hope that those missing could still be alive.
While the rescue was ongoing, the captain impressed to us that they all disembarked and were transferred to the vessels around," Virtusio said.
"We have an anticipation that more (survivors) will be coming up."
Some of the injured arrived at the Coast Guard headquarters on the dockside with their faces almost burned beyond recognition. A line of waiting ambulances sped the victims away.
Christie Cayetona, one of the rescued passengers, recounted being woken up by a loud explosion from her bunk below deck.
"We rushed toward the main deck," she told Manila radio station dzRH by telephone aboard a rescue vessel. "There was smoke all over."
Those injured, on the other hand, were identified as Gemma Estavinas, 12; Monaliza Custodio, 40; Marilen Siazon, 20; Boni Senit, 28; Juanito Belicano, 51; Evelyn Siazon, 45; and Frezel May Salazar, 20. They were brought to the Manila Doctors' Hospital and Philippine General Hospital for treatment.
Virtusio said they have already set-up a processing and assistance center at Pier 4 to help the families and relatives of the missing victims.
Coast Guard Commodore Wilfredo Tamayo, in his latest report, said that of the 879 people passengers and crew, 112 remained missing, although operator Aboitiz Transport said 899 people were on board.
Tamayo said search and rescue operations will continue, but investigators will not be able to penetrate the hull of the burned ship, which was still smoldering.
"Until now, there are still noxious gasses being emitted from the vessel. We have to wait until such time that we can (investigate)," Tamayo said.
Tamayo declined to speculate whether some of those missing could have been trapped inside the ferry, which was towed to the waters near Bataan Province, where it listed and partly submerged in water.
Probe
President Arroyo Friday ordered an investigation on the sea accident.
Arroyo also ordered the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to extend necessary assistance to the victims and their families.
"The President has also expressed her sincerest sympathies to the families of those who were killed or hurt during the incident," said Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye.
Review
Meanwhile, Sens. Manuel Villar and Rodolfo Biazon urged Congress to review maritime laws when session resumes in order to protect the public and avoid sea tragedies in the future.
Villar said as the country is gaining notoriety for its record of having the most number of sea disasters; there is a need to modernize the domestic maritime industry and craft laws on maritime safety.
On the other hand, Biazon urged his colleagues in the Senate to prioritize maritime modernization bills.
According to Biazon, the bills have proposed a structure wherein the powers, functions, authority and responsibility are clearly defined.
The Superferry 14 was built to carry a maximum of 1,672 people, the company said. It had been in service for three years.
Inter-island ferries, often small, poorly maintained and overloaded, are vulnerable to sea collisions or sinking in rough water, resulting in several fatalities every year.
More than 4,000 people were killed in the world's worst peacetime maritime disaster when the Doņa Paz ferry collided with an oil tanker off Mindoro Island in 1987.
Crisis teams
Coast Guard deputy commandant Rear Admiral Danilo Abinoja said the fire was caused by "an explosion of undetermined origin" in the engine room, but would not speculate what might have caused it.
Eight government vessels as well as military helicopters, commercial ships and fishing boats scoured the area for survivors or casualties.
US Marines, taking part in joint annual war games at the nearby coastal town of Ternate, Cavite, provided rubber boats for Philippine Navy frogmen leading the rescue efforts, said Philippine Navy spokesman Capt. Gerry Malabanan.
Apart from a passenger assistance center in Manila's North Harbor, several teams of the "ground crisis and contingency group" were activated in Bacolod and Cagayan de Oro to attend to worried relatives.Marie Neri/JMR/JPM with AFP
(February 28, 2004 issue)
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