Weather halts ferry survivors hunt
Print Edition
Worsening weather and sea conditions yesterday forced the Philippines to suspend a search for survivors of a ferry disaster that killed at least 32 people and left 170 missing, authorities said.
The ferry sank on Friday after a collision just outside the central port of Cebu with a cargo vessel owned by a company involved in the world’s worst peacetime maritime disaster nearly 30 years ago.
Divers were due to resume searching early today, Transport Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya told a news conference in Manila, after heavy rain brought by a typhoon had reduced visibility at sea almost to zero.
“Diving operations stopped because of weather conditions,” Abaya said, adding that 661 of the 831 passengers and crew on the ferry had been accounted for. With 32 dead and 629 rescued, there are 170 missing. Just 17 of the dead have been identified.
“But we’ve got information that some bodies have been recovered. We expect the number of missing to decrease, and we expect the casualties to increase,” said Abaya.
Many survivors were sick from swallowing oil and seawater, disaster officials said.
The 40-year-old ferry was approaching Cebu late in the evening when it was struck by the departing cargo vessel, the Sulpicio Express 7, leaving two huge holes in the latter’s bow. The ferry sank in minutes, about a kilometer off Cebu.
Small planes and helicopters also scoured the waters and coastal areas of Cebu island for survivors, officials said.
Divers found four bodies outside the sunken ferry hours before the search was halted, said Commander Noel Escalana, a naval operations officer.
“During the dive, they saw bodies from the windows,” he told reporters, saying the divers did not attempt to retrieve them. “It’s dangerous to enter the ship ... because they need special equipment and extra oxygen tanks.”
Escalana said rescuers had no idea how many people were inside the ship, which is lying on the seabed, 46 meters down.
Fourteen bodies were found in the town of Talisay, south of Cebu city, said local official Imelda Sabillano.
Officials said a recount at the morgue showed 32 bodies awaited autopsy.
“We felt the cargo ship hit us and minutes later we noticed our ship was listing,” passenger Aldrin Raman told reporters. “I grabbed a life vest and jumped overboard. I saw many passengers doing the same.”
The Sulpicio Express 7 is owned by unlisted firm Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corp, formerly known as Sulpicio Lines Inc, which owned the MV Dona Paz ferry. That vessel collided with a tanker in the Sibuyan Sea in December 1987, killing 4,386 people.
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