I've been on plenty of boats in Pinas. All shapes and sizes. Always gets my heart pumping and the andrenalin flowing A total of 40 people were rescued when a passenger boat sank off Surigao del Norte province on Tuesday, a police report said. The vessel "Maricris" sank more or less three kilometers from the coastline of San Benito municipality at about 5 p.m., the report said. The report, however, did not mention the route of the vessel. Police from Santa Monica and San Benito municipalities immediately responded to the incident. "All passengers were rescued and ferried back to the port of Santa Monica," the report said. Authorities were still determining the cause of the sinking as of posting time Source:- http://www.gmanews.tv/story/236550/regions/40-rescued-as-vessel-sinks-of-surigao-del-norte
As some of you know I work at sea for a living and to be honest I avoid travelling by sea in the Philippines if I can help it. The general standards of seamanship and safety on alot (not all) of the vessels that operate in and around the phillipines leaves alot to be desired. The IMO (International Maritime Organisation) was looking at taking the Philippines (and Egypt) of their white paper list of recognised countries that meet the required standards of Officer training and examination. This is a pity due to the number of seafarers that the PI produces. I've worked alot with Filipino crew which on the whole are very good (once trained up onboard) at their jobs, unfortunately its the officers that seem to be of a poor quality in general. I know in Egypt they were bringing in UK MCA examinars to train the lecturers in Alexandria college to the required standard. Fairly pointless really as I know of one guy that failed his yearly certificate exam 3 times in 3 years and got it sorted for $500!!!
