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Saturday, May 13, 2006
21 killed in ferry sinking off Masbate
MANILA (Updated 4:05 p.m.) -- The Coast Guard said Saturday that 21 bodies have been recovered after a small outrigger ferry sank in rough waters in the central Philippines, raising to 23 the number of people killed by a storm.
Coast Guard spokesman Joseph Coyme said 18 other passengers of the motorboat Mae An have been rescued since Friday, when it capsized off Masbate Island after ignoring a general warning from authorities stopping all small vessels from sailing as tropical storm Caloy (international name: Chanchu) approached the region.
Coyme said it was uncertain whether five people from the motorboat Mae An, reported missing Friday, were among those who drowned and were recovered from the stormy sea near Masbate, about 360 kilometers southeast of Manila.
He said the ferry left at dawn to evade authorities, and left no list of passengers that were headed to nearby Sorsogon province on the southeastern tip of Luzon.
Meanwhile four villages were submerged under waist-deep water when a swollen river broke a dike in Mindoro Island of Manila, while another ferry with more than 700 passengers aboard ran aground during the storm, officials and news reports said.
Manila radio stations, quoting local officials, reported the broken dike outside Calapan City, capital of Mindoro Oriental province south of Manila.
The Office of Civil Defense in Manila said it could not immediately confirm the report.
Coyme said the ferry MV Filipina Princess took shelter from tropical storm Caloy off Tablas Island southeast of Mindoro, but ran aground in rough waters.
Coyme said two tugboats were headed to the stricken vessel.
Nestor Ponteres, port captain of the ferry owned by Sulpicio Lines, said the vessel left the central Philippine City of Cebu for Manila with 713 passengers and more than 70 crew Friday morning.
It anchored in Tablas' Carmen Bay to shelter from the storm around 1 a.m. Saturday, but winds and waves dragged it into shallow waters about three hours later.
Elsewhere, a couple were electrocuted Friday when a swaying coconut tree severed an electric line in Manapla town on Negros Island.
In Bacolod City, five persons were reported missing in Barangay Daga, Cadiz City Saturday morning.
Melvin Fierro, a staff of the Provincial Disaster Management Team, identified those missing as Solgen Locsin, Toto and Banhao, both with surname of De la Cruz and also Adelino and Gleen Delorosa.
Cadiz City Mayor Salvador "Bading" Escalante, Jr. ordered their City Bantay Dagat Council, Create Rescue Group with the assistance from the Philippine Coast Guard to conduct search and rescue operations for the five missing Cadiznons.
The weather bureau reported that Caloy cut through Mindoro Island, about 120 kilometers south of Manila, overnight Friday, and was heading Saturday toward the South China Sea, moving at 15 kilometers per hour (kph) with sustained winds of 94 kph and gusts of up to 120 kilometers. (AP/EASD of Sun.Star Bacolod/Sunnex)
(May 13, 2006 issue)
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