Philippine ferry disaster off Leyte

This is clearly a "profit before peoples lives" issue. Overfilling the boat. Too much cargo. Not enough life jackets etc etc A little HSE would help.

After the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster in the UK, things tightened up somewhat. That same thinking needs to be applied to Filipino inter island ferries.

It could have been any of this forum's members on that boat.

Indeed.

No point in calling-in Health and Safety until you overcome the mindset that humans don't cause tragedies in the Philippines. It was God's will that the ferry sank: pray harder.

14th Ferry disaster in the Philippines since 2000

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/07/a-ferry-disaster-in-the-philippines/397598/

"The crew have been accused of reckless behavior, with an initial police investigation and interviews with survivors indicating the vessel turned abruptly causing it to capsize.

The police investigation is separate from a coast guard inquiry, which will primarily determine the cause of the mishap. However, the coast guard may also recommend criminal and administrative charges."

More from: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/stor...y-have-been-overloaded-death-toll-rises-to-61


"Philippine police have filed murder charges against the owners and crew of a passenger ferry that capsized just moments after leaving a port in central Philippines and left at least 61 people dead."

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/...owners-sunk-ferry-murder-150704063055518.html

Perhaps if the owners of the boat are imprisoned, it might adjust their mindset.


Carrying a cargo of cement and rice, apparently.

Again, one does not need flip flops on the deck of the MB Nirvana to know that it is a risky business catching a ferry in the Philippines.

There seems to be a syndrome that pervades, along the lines of " I am sick of the UK because of the HSE" followed by " O Sheet, another ferry has just sunk in the Philippines, why is that? "

Rules are put in place to help protect people.
If people at the top don't put these rules in place, people die.
Putting rules in place costs money and then the kickbacks will stop.
Conversations on the golf course will be a tad less amiable.

Exactly right.

HSE comes at cost. But that cost is the price of reduced risk of loss of lives. A cheap ferry ticket seems a steal in the land of paradise, but not if we pay for it with our lives.

Mike, the rules are in place. No commercial vessel can set sail from a Philippine port until it is inspected and cleared by the Philippine Coastguard. In this particular case, the Coastguard Officer's attention will have been drawn to the fact that the Nirvana was the only available 'ferry' plying the route - the others were apparently laid-up for repair - and may well have been "encouraged" to overlook its over-crowdedness.

...and lack of life jackets.

I believe that this is a picture of the ferry concerned:

From Cebu Daily News.

Why don't they have a sea worthiness document that is signed (and faxed off prior to departure) to show which coastguard officer gives the all clear, Mark?
If there is no fax, they should make the barangay captains responsible for safety on vessels that leave their ports.
This would stop "encouragement"!

Andrew is best placed to answer that, Mike, as he worked in shipping here a few years ago. Him or Gunther who is a member of the Philippine Coastguard.

Brave fella to publish this so soon after event.
He goes on to say...

"The triage area was a first on the pier by the 2Go terminal. They figured out who needed to go to the hospital and who didn't. There were people from Ormoc Fire, Ormoc Emergency Response, PNP, Red Cross, many many ambulances, city officials and the military with big guns. I actually asked a military guy if we were going to war? Why the big guns? His response was to keep us safe.

We then got moved into the 2Go ferry terminal where a actual proper triage was set up. Everyone was checked and vital signs were taken. I was surprised how many Phil Red Cross people were there, there had to be like 40 plus. Everyone was given bottled water and then a bunch of towels and sheets arrived to worm some of the people that were cold. By this time they turned off the aircon so I was getting hot. They took everyone's names and info.

I didnt loose any clothing or my glasses but my wife and mother in law lost there flip flops. The only people that still had shoes were the ones with laced shoes. Another American lost 1 of his shoes and his glasses. I was wearing cargo shorts and in both front lower pockets were my cell phones and a roll of electrical tape. Somehow both cells were there but the electrical tape was gone. My cell phones along with my wife's cell phones and my mother in laws cells are in a bag or rice now, I first washed them in the sink in the hotel so to at least get the salt water out of them. We will see in a few days if they survived, I am sure they didnt.

A while later a couple of large bags of used cloths showed up and everyone pick thew them to find something dry to put on. I of course had to luck but I was fine. They came around with cup noodles to give to everyone, I joked with the girl and said sorry auntie, I have no money, its all in the sea. She looked and said no Sir its free.

We were still waiting to see what was going on when the media started to pour in. A few of the survivors were very very upset because they had lost loved ones so the media went to them first. I had a very nice gentleman approached me from the Associated Press. He asked if he could interview me and my wife as survivors. I guess I didn't think what harm can it do. Well no harm but wow did our story get out. My mom saw it on the news in the US before I could get a new cell to call her. While in the terminal I asked to use the internet cafe to put a message on FB that we were all OK. I had posted heading home like 10 minutes before the accident.

We were asked from the PNP, the Coast Guard and a city official to make statements before we could leave. We were stuck in the terminal for over 3 hours until they finally let us go to a hotel. Stopped and got some Tide and checked in the hotel, all 3 of us were wet and exhausted. Mom washed all our cloths in the shower and we hung them all around our room to dry. I cranked the air con so they dried over night.

The next morning we went and bought a cell phone and tried to see if the ferry would be going, no ferry service, all canceled. We then headed out to see if we could get some clothes. The wife and mom were easy, me not so much. I did get lucky and found 3 Fubu shirts on sale at the mall, 50% off for 400p each. Got some socks but still no shorts or briefs. Found shorts at a used clothing tent near the mall but still no briefs.

We returned to the hotel and I loaded my apps in my new cell and had 8 voice mails on my magic jack and a **** load of emails. I had calls from ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and Fox. Good morning America and the Today show called also. They had called my mom and she gave out my magic jack number. I did I think 4 phone interviews and lost my voice. I had a email from the US Embassy checking in on me. They had my email from when Jimmy B passes away and I was in contact with them.

Friday after noon a cousin of my wife showed up and said her brother was on the ferry. My wife didn't know he was, I guess he was down stairs. We went to all the funeral homes and hospitals and no luck. We was on the list of missing. He was found Saturday morning early because he floated onto the beach that morning.
She received a call to go to the funeral home to identify him, it was him. Saturday after noon she was informed that the funeral home wanted 30k for a 3 day en-bomb. Some actress donated the money for all the caskets. After a lot B/S the funeral home and city of Ormoc came to a decision that the city would pay for the em-bombing of the victims.

We got word that the Coast Guard would bring us to the island Sunday morning at 7am. All the survivors and any family member of the dead could come. They also loaded all the caskets on the boat and at noon we finally left Ormoc.

Arrived at the island around 1:25pm and then we had to transfer to a pumpboat to take us to the pier because the ship was very big. They let the survivors and media go first, we all had red bands on are wrists. They took us to the pier and then went back for the families of the victims. Last were the caskets. It was crazy how many people were on the pier. They had it roped off to let us get off the ferry safely. My bike was on the Pier since Thursday but it was fine. I took a few of the groceries to where we are staying and then came back for my wife and other items. I have met a few people since I lived here but now I guess everyone knows me by name. People were cheering and claping and calling my name as I drove past them. I came back to get my wife and a few more bags and all over again the cheering and clapping went on.

They had a lunch for all the survivors at City Hall and a short program. I met the husband and relatives of the women I did CPR on, it was a very emotional time for all. I am actually having a hard time typing this without getting emotional. I had said the boy was 8 that we assisted, he is 11. I guess he is small for his age.

They had to bury a few last night and some more this morning because the bodies were beginning to smell. I attended 1 for the cartaker or where I am stayings sister and niece who passed away. His sister was 40 and niece was 15 and neither knew how to swim.

The governor came this morning with 2 helicopters. They flew all around the island and landed in the large high school lawn here. The principle was among the victims. They had a small ceremony and he left 30 minutes later.

I knew I would get to know a lot of the locals here but never dreamed it would be this fast, I think every resident knows my name. I have lived here for just 3 weeks and I knew it would be a life changing thing moving here, I didn't expect it to be a life ending event.

Ferry service is still on hold, they hope to restore service tomorrow. The media here said they hope they do, they are ready to go back to Manila. We have CNN,GMA and ABS/CBN staying with us in the pension house.

As of now there are 61 confirmed dead and 55 are residence of my island. The 6 others live on the other 2 islands that the ferry services. They say there were 181 people on board so 1/3 of the passengers didn't survive."

So very sad

Hope you ask his permission

He gave permission to share.
Its probably all over Facebook etc by now..and beyond.. Which is a good thing.

American passenger blasts PCG, praises Nirvana captain

MANILA – An American survivor of the ill-fated MB Kim Nirvana listed a number of alleged shortcomings that the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) committed which he believes resulted in the tragedy that left 61 people dead.

Larry Drake, a retired New York firefighter and one of the survivors of ill-fated MB Kim Nirvana, said it took coast guard rescuers about half an hour before they started getting survivors out of the water.

http://mobile.abs-cbnnews.com/natio...passenger-blasts-pcg-praises-nirvana-captain/

Top Philippine Coast Guard officials in Eastern Visayas and Ormoc City were relieved of their posts in the wake of last Thursday noon’s capsizing of MB Kim Nirvana-B near the Ormoc City port.

PCG Eastern Visayas District Commander Pedro Tinampay, PCG-Ormoc City station commander Lt. Adonis Aniasco and a three-member inspection team who assessed the ill-fated vessel were ordered relieved by the Coast Guard central office in Manila.

In a TV interview Tinampay said the investigation by the Coast Guard will determine who is responsible for the July 2 tragedy.

The families of the victims blamed the Coast Guard for clearing the MB Kim Nirvana-B to travel despite the huge waves at the time.

At last count, there were 61 fatalities while 145 passengers survived, raising the total to 206 passengers. The number exceeded the banca’s 194-passenger limit.

http://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/62588/coast-guard-officials-sacked-for-sea-tragedy