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Ferry boat sinks off Philippines

Many people were feared dead after a ferry carrying more than 700 passengers and crew sank in heavy seas during a typhoon off the central Philippines, officials and reports said yesterday.

The MV Princess of the Stars went down at about noon on Saturday, several kilometers off the coast of Sibuyan Island, after being battered by huge waves overnight when its engines failed, officials and survivors said.

Four bodies washed ashore on Sibuyan and four survivors were found, but the death toll was likely to rise sharply with the fate of the rest of the passengers and crew remained unknown, officials and reports said.

There were unconfirmed reports that three survivors had been rescued.

One confirmed survivor, crew member Reynato Lanorio, said the ship listed and sank in just 15 minutes.

“It seemed like everything happened in 15 minutes. Next thing we knew, the ship had gone under,” he said, adding the captain of the 23,824 tonne vessel gave orders to abandon ship shortly after it listed, sending passengers and crew scrambling for life rafts.

“Many of us managed to get on the lifeboats, but I don’t know if they survived,” the crew member told DZBB radio from his hospital bed where he was being treated for cuts to his face.

He said that four other people on his raft were wrenched away by the big waves while he clung on for dear life.

Some reports said the vessel began taking water after the hull of the ferry developed a hole. Witnesses reported lifejackets from the doomed vessel washing ashore along with the shoes of children and other debris.

“There were many plastic slippers of children also found floating on the shore, but no survivors,” said Nanette Tansingco, mayor of San Fernando, a coastal town on Sibuyan about 260km south of Manila.

The ship, en route from Manila to Cebu and 16 hours into its 22-hour voyage, issued a distress signal before going down.

A police boat reached the site early yesterday and officers found the ferry flipped over with only its bow visible above the water line, Tansingco told local radio.

“They reported to me that there was a big hole amidships,” the mayor said.

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has demanded to know why the ferry was allowed to leave from Manila with the typhoon about to hit the country.

“I want answers,” she said from on board the presidential plane en route to the US.

Typhoon Fengshen swept through the central Philippines on Saturday, leaving hundreds dead or missing as heavy rains and strong winds triggered floods and landslides that destroyed buildings.

At press time, at least 229 people were confirmed dead and at least six were missing after Fengshen ravaged the central and southern parts of the country, Red Cross and civil defense officials said.

The toll did not include those dead or missing from the sunk ferry.

The central province of Iloilo has suffered the heaviest losses, with 101 dead, Philippine Red Cross chairman Richard Gordon said.

Other fatalities were reported in the provinces of Romblon, Cotabato, Antique and Capiz, Gordon said.

The civil defense office recorded 26 fatalities in the southern island of Mindanao.


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