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Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Banca sinks off Camotes: 8 dead
By Minerva B. Gerodias
A MOTORIZED banca from Ormoc City capsized in the rough seas off Pilar in Camotes Island around 2 p.m. Tuesday.
Eight were confirmed dead, including two children, four were reported missing and one pregnant woman was rushed to the clinic after being rescued.
Among the casualties were a one-year-old boy, a five-year-old girl and a 76-year-old man.
Coast Guard Ormoc Commander Jose William Isaga said the motor banca St. Martin was carrying 158 passengers and 10 crewmembers.
The vessel, owned by outgoing Pilar Vice Mayor Reynaldo Malaluan has a capacity of 180 persons. (Malaluan ran for mayor this year but lost.)
The boat left Ormoc City port at 1 p.m. and was expected to arrive in Pilar at 2 p.m. But when it was about two nautical miles from the Pilar port, it capsized.
Dolly Dales, the municipal social welfare and development officer of Pilar, said the casualties were mostly from Leyte and San Juan, Pilar.
They were heading for Pilar to attend tomorrow's fiesta in Barangay San Juan. Many of the other victims were San Juan residents who had gone to Ormoc to buy supplies for the fiesta.
One of the casualties, Conchita Boholst of Baybay, Leyte, was going to Pilar to attend the burial of her brother-in-law Wednesday.
Yet another casualty was Evangeline Carbon, 37, a public school teacher in Pilar. Her nine-year-old daughter was among the passengers reported missing.
Genalyn Sidra, 21, was also missing as of Tuesday night. She is the mother of the one-year-old boy who drowned.
Fortunately for the others, Commander Isaga said, passengers and sailors on the other boats anchored at the Pilar port saw the accident and immediately sailed to rescue St. Martin's passengers.
Isaga will go to Pilar Wednesday to look into the matter and determine what caused the accident.
"We do not know yet because we have not talked to the boat captain. They are still very busy in the search and rescue operations," Isaga said.
According to a dySS report, boat captain Diosdado Calumpag heard a loud crack just before the boat sank.
St. Martin, a wooden-hulled boat with outriggers, was built in 2000 and has been regularly sailing between Ormoc and Pilar.
Isaga said the seas Tuesday were rough when the boat sailed, but the St. Martin was cleared to leave after typhoon Dindo left the Visayas region.
In Bicol Region and the islands of Masbate and Samar, up to 11,000 were left homeless after Dindo caused landslides and floods that wiped out entire villages.
But even under fair weather, there have been several sea accidents involving wooden-hulled vessels in the country.
In May 2003, President Arroyo ordered the inspection of wooden-hulled vessels after mv Nicolas collided with Superferry 12 in Corrigedor.
Guidelines on the gradual phaseout of Philippine-registered wooden-hulled vessels were also issued last year.
But these types of boats are still allowed to operate, as an immediate ban may cause a shortage in sea transportation. Wooden-hulled vessels make up 60 percent of all passenger boats currently in operation.
(May 19, 2004 issue)
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Bicol, 2 Visayas provinces declared calamity areas