Divers Enter Ferry Capsized by Storm; Toll Mounts Elsewhere
By Carmela Cruz
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
MANILA, June 24 -- Divers entered a huge capsized ferry on Tuesday but reported finding no survivors among the bodies inside, Philippine officials said, all but dashing hopes that some of the more than 700 people still missing from the weekend catastrophe would be found alive.
Lt. Cmdr. Inocencio Rosario Jr. of the Philippine coast guard, one of the first two divers to get inside the ferry, said that he and his partner found three bodies in their hour in the water, fighting strong currents the entire time. Rosario said that they entered the vessel at 60 feet below sea level, but that most of its cabins are about 40 feet deeper.
Navy divers soon took over the search, and Philippines Navy spokesman Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo said that the ship's interior was too dark to get a good count of how many bodies were being found.
"Most of the bodies were floating inside. They were trapped when the seven-story ship suddenly tilted and capsized," he told dzBB radio, the Associated Press reported.
Arevalo said some bodies had life vests but many passengers had apparently hesitated to jump into the "turbulent waters" before the ship capsized because "it happened too sudden." Survivors have said the ship listed and went down in no more than 30 minutes in stormy waters off Romblon Island in the central Philippines.
Typhoon Fengshen, which roiled the seas, has also been blamed by Philippine authorities for hundreds of other people dead or missing on seas and islands.
The storm, which on Monday was heading toward the southern coast of China, destroyed houses, roads and bridges and swept away crops. It sank an unknown number of fishing boats in the cluster of islands in the Visayas region in the central Philippines, according to local reports.
The number of known survivors from the MV Princess of the Stars ferry rose Monday to 57, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said. Some of those people told of floating for hours in rough seas as they sheltered in life rafts or clung to life rings and floating debris.
The ferry was carrying more than 800 passengers and crew members when it sank Saturday in stormy waters off Romblon Island in the central Philippines. On Monday, the underside of its bow showed above the waves.
Among the ferry survivors were 28 people who reached Luzon Island on a life raft. Six others were found on Sibuyan Island, said Lt. Cmdr. Armand Balilo of the Philippine coast guard.
The coordinating council confirmed 20 passengers dead, with 16 bodies washed ashore.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who is in the United States on a 10-day working visit, conferred by teleconference Monday with government officials back home, demanding action and accountability in the ferry sinking, officials said. She also sought U.S. help in dealing with the disaster.
A U.S. Navy ship was to depart from Okinawa, Japan, to help Philippine navy ships, helicopters and planes that are scouring islands and islets for survivors.
The Philippine Red Cross said 141 people were known dead in the storm, at least 93 of them killed in Iloilo province by drowning or electrocution in a flash flood caused by the opening of the Maasin Dam.
Gwendolyn Pang, Red Cross deputy secretary general, said floodwaters of an intensity "not seen since 1943" rose to rooftop levels, ripped up houses made of light materials and knocked down power lines. She said the typhoon affected 22 provinces and at least 241,000 people across the country.
Pang said 255 people, almost all of them fishermen, were missing in Negros Occidental province. In Masbate, an island province east of Romblon, at least 35 people were found dead, a mayor told local radio.
At least 20 people were reported missing in Central Mindanao. In the nation's capital, Manila, floodwaters forced many families to evacuation centers.
Initial government estimates placed damage to property at the equivalent of about $37 million, with roads and bridges destroyed in Central Luzon and Western Visayas. In Marinduque, north of Romblon, rice land was severely damaged and cornfields were wiped out.
As of 5 p.m. Monday, the typhoon had weakened as it moved toward southern China with maximum sustained winds of about 69 mph near the center and gusts of up to almost 90 mph, according to the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration.
The Princess of the Stars, the largest inter-island ship of its type, sailed Friday evening from Manila, where storm warnings were in effect, and headed for Cebu Island. Officials were debating Monday whether it should have been allowed to go.
Renato Lanurias, 35, a janitor aboard the ship, said that at 11:45 a.m. Saturday, the captain gave orders to prepare to abandon ship. "We waited at our station. At exactly 12 noon, he told us to abandon ship. Then I jumped to the water.
"The water was very cold. The wind was strong. The wave was strong. The rain was strong," Lanurias said in a telephone interview.
He said his hope did not dim even when the three people who were holding on to a single doughnut-shaped lifesaver disappeared in a huge wave while floating off Romblon Island on Saturday.
"I held on to my life raft and prayed to God. I prayed that He let me live, so I could reach my dream," Lanurias said. "It is my dream to send my children to school."
The government is set to investigate the sinking, with some officials calling for the revoking of the business license of Sulpicio Lines.
The company also owned the MV Doña Paz, which sank in 1987 in the Tablas Strait, killing close to 4,000 people.
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