From the Rappler: The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) confirmed one person died on early Friday morning, June 14, and 22 remain missing after a ship sank off Burias Island, Masbate because of still undetermined reasons. The PCG is still verifying the identity of the person who died, said PCG spokesman Commander Armand Balilo in an interview on radio dzBB. Balilio told radio dzMM that as of 10:20 am, authorities have rescued 34 passengers and crew of the ship, MV Lady of Mount Carmel. PCG operations officer Ensign Criselda Boroais said the ship carried 57 people when it sank at around 5:30 am. In an interview on GMA News TV, ship captain Lauro Mateo said not all passengers managed to wear life jackets. 'It happened so quickly' It took only a minute for the ship to sink, Mateo added. “Dire-diretso na yon. Hindi ko na ma-explain kung anong nangyari,” the captain said. (It sank very quickly. I couldn't explain what happened.) Mateo said it was unlikely the ship was overloaded. Raffy Alejandro, director of the Office of Civil Defense in Bicol, supported the claim that the ship was not overloaded. He explained the ship, after all, made the journey of about 4 hours between the two major provinces of Albay and Masbate, more than 300 kilometers southeast of Manila. Alejandro asid the cause of the sinking had not yet been determined. But the ship's captain, who was among those rescued, reported the vessel may have been unbalanced by two passenger buses and a large truck it was carrying. "He said it happened so quickly. It just went down in the darkness," Alejandro said, adding the waters and weather were calm. Ship owner Max Culiapsy, in a GMA News TV interview, downplayed the possibility that the ship got unbalanced. The vessel was a roll-on, roll-off ferry commonly used in the Philippines to transport people, vehicles and cargo throughout the archipelago of more than 7,100 islands. Sea accidents common Sea accidents are common in the Philippines due to poor safety standards and overloading. The world's deadliest peacetime maritime disaster occurred near Manila in 1987 when a ferry laden with Christmas holidaymakers collided with a small oil tanker, killing more than 4,000 people. In 2008, a huge ferry capsized during a typhoon off the central island of Sibuyan, leaving almost 800 dead. Alejandro expressed hope that the death toll from Friday's accident would not rise drastically, partly because the captain said most passengers were wearing life jackets. "We expect many more will be rescued. We were able to respond quickly," he said. – with reports from Agence France-Presse/Rappler.com
"Maritime accidents are common in the Philippine archipelago because of tropical weather, badly maintained passenger boats and weak enforcement of safety regulations. The world's worst maritime disaster in peacetime occurred in the Philippines in December 1987. More than 4,000 people died when the Dona Paz ferry collided with a tanker." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22884784
Now two dead, 55 so all those on the passenger manifest have been accounted for. There is a suggestion that there might have been others carried without tickets. Wonder if those trucks and the bus were unlashed or inadequately lashed?
The only Ro-Ro I've been is the Lite ferry that plies between Cebu and San Carlos, Negros; it's not an experience I would wish to repeat in this lifetime. None of the rolling cargo was lashed. On the return trip to Cebu, they loaded all the heavy trucks on the port side and cars to starboard; definite port list and with a beam sea, not pleasant.
Unfortunately there is a determination not to learn from previous accidents. http://maritimeaccident.org/2009/12/unhappy-christmas-for-philippines-ferries/
Interestingly, all vehicles on the IOM ferries to Liverpool and Heysham are left in gear with the handbrake on and chocked. No lashing. On one ferry, a fastcat, some vehicles park on an incline in this fashion. I guess it adds a whole new meaning to the words "free surface effect" when vehicles aren't left with their handbrakes on and in gear or indeed lashed down. Again interestingly, 11,200 motorcycles came across to the IOM by ferry between May 22 and June 7 this year. All were lashed ( the owners were probably well lashed too! ) .
Handbrake? What handbrake? Who needs a handbrake when you can genuflect to the little light-up Madonna on the dashboard?
Interesting article. I liked the use of the word glacial, when applied to the Philippine judicial system. Yes, no lessons learned. I was talking to someone at work about the idea of Philippine cruises. I guess that if they exist then hopefully the ships would not be of Philippine origin and run to an international safety standard. Anybody know of cruises that tour the Philippines? This chaps step mother is wondering where to go for her next cruise.
Twenty five years ago I would have sold you a ticket on the good ship Coral Princess as we included Philippines calls in our winter season. Today the Philippines is an occasional call on round the world cruises; there is no cruise line offering regular Philippines cruises as such.
The cruise terminal at Subic Bay Freeport remains free of cruise ships since the visit of the QE2 many years ago. The freeport is a member of the Asian Cruise Terminals Association. Manila apparently gets some visits http://www.cruisecompete.com/vacations/visits/philippines/1
There are few cruise ship calls because the Philippines lacks the infrastructure to cope with a cruise ship call - a moderate sized ship by today's standards will land maybe two thousand pax in a hour - these people need to go somewhere - that's fifty smart modern clean air conditoned luxury coaches and somewhere for the people to go in those buses that qualifies as a "tourist attraction" - somewhere like, say, Angkor Wat. The Philippines doesn't have either the buses or traffic jam free roads to drive them on, or tourist attractions.
The logistics of getting fifty buses to the Chocolate hills, or the rice terraces, and handle thousands of tourists at once simply aren't there. You've got prehaps 24 hours, 48 at a push to get them somewhere interesting, get them to a couple of other places somewhere interesting and get them back to the boat. 20-30 hours or so on a bus out and back doesn't hack it. When Dick Gordon headed the Tourism Department they had great nightly shows and a rotating exhibition/market for souvenirs etc. from the different regions. It was a very good initiative. It worked for tourists. Now its gone.
