Five people were killed and dozens were left missing after a ferry carrying nearly 1,000 passengers sank in darkness off the southern Philippines yesterday, officials said.
In the latest tragedy to hit the Philippines’ notoriously dangerous maritime transport industry, survivors reported mass panic as Superferry 9 began tilting sharply well before dawn.
“They told us to stay calm, but we could see no sign of rescue. Not for two hours,” survivor Manuel Malicsi told radio station RMN.
Nine hundred people on board were rescued, but five were confirmed killed and by late yesterday afternoon 63 passengers or crew members remained unaccounted for, the Philippine Coast Guard said in a statement.
“We are searching all possible areas [for the missing people],” coast guard chief Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo said in a radio interview. “Navy ships [and] airforce aircraft are still scouring the area.”
Tamayo offered hope for the relatives of those still missing, saying some may have drifted away in life rafts or been picked up by private boats that took part in the rescue.
Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said local officials were checking to see if any survivors had already reached shore.
At Zamboanga City, stunned survivors could be seen disembarking from the boats that rescued them, many of them still half-naked and bare-foot after leaping into the water.
The ferry issued a distress call at about 3:30am, 11km off the coast of Zamboanga Peninsula and some 19 hours into its journey from General Santos City.
Philippine Maritime administrator Elena Bautista warned that criminal charges would be filed if negligence were found to be to blame.
Regional coast guard chief Commodore Rudy Isorena said the cause of the accident was not yet clear and the weather in the area had not been too bad.
“We cannot say yet as to the cause, as the attention right now is being given to the search and rescue of passengers,” he said.
Tropical Storm Dujuan, off the Philippines’ northeast coast, however, has heightened the seasonal southwest monsoon winds, bringing rough weather across the country, the weather bureau said.
Ferries, from large ones such as the Superferry 9 to small wooden dugouts with bamboo outriggers, form the backbone of mass transport in the nation of 92 million people.
Authorities and passengers said some people had jumped into the water in panic as the vessel began to tilt to one side, while others were able to get into life boats.
“The ship shifted suddenly and some people just panicked,” Roger Sicharon, one of the passengers, told DZMM radio by mobile phone.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique