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Philippines: 38 more passengers ‘alive’, 800 missing from capsized ship
Mon. June 23, 2008 07:39 am.- By Bonny Apunyu. -
(SomaliNet) Some 38 passengers from a capsized passenger ferry were reported alive in the central Philippines on Monday but more than 800 remain missing after the ship sank during a typhoon.
Radio dzBB reported that the survivors made it to a small coastal village after drifting at sea for more than 24 hours in a rubber boat. Two others originally on board the life raft drowned in large swells.
The discovery raises the number of survivors to 42. Four people were confirmed dead on Sunday.
More than 800 people were still missing after the MV Princess of Stars sank off Sibuyan island in the central Philippines as Typhoon Fengshen roared past.
Coast guard boats battling winds and high waves were scouring the area around the ferry and divers were expected to enter the vessel later. A helicopter and plane were also en route.
"We are checking whether there were people trapped inside the ferry," Vice Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo, the head of coast guard, said. "We might have to drill holes so our divers can access it."
Typhoon Fengshen has killed at least 155 people in central and southern Philippines, with the western Visayas region the worst affected.
It pounded the archipelago, damaging thousands of houses and displacing tens of thousands of people.
"We got hit real bad this time," said Richard Gordon, the chairman of the Philippines' Red Cross.
The typhoon is currently over the South China Sea and is expected to lurch northwards towards Taiwan in the next few days.
In the central city of Cebu, where Princess of Stars was meant to dock, dozens of relatives waited into the morning for news.
"The last time I heard from my son was on Friday evening when the ship left Manila. He texted to say he was coming home," said Celecia Tudtud, a mother of four. "I really hope he's okay," she said, wiping away tears.
Sulpicio Lines, the ship's owner, revised up the number of people on the vessel late on Sunday to 845 from an initial estimate of 740 plus. At least 20 children and 33 infants were on board.
The few who made it out alive spoke of pandemonium when the ship suddenly lurched onto its side.
"What I just did was to float in the water," a survivor identified only as Jesse told local radio, adding that he had a life vest. "There were others who rode in the lifecraft. But it was no use, the waves were big so they capsized also."
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, in the United States for a state visit, held a video conference with disaster officials early on Monday and said coast guard protocols should be reviewed to prevent another ship sailing into a typhoon's path.
In Iloilo province, 101 people were reported dead after flood waters over two metres high engulfed communities, forcing tens of thousands to scramble onto the roofs of their homes.
In neighbouring Capiz, more than 2,000 houses were destroyed in the provincial capital and officials were struggling to make contact with communities further afield.
More than 30,000 people were being housed in evacuation centres in the centre and south of the archipelago.-Reuters
News Category: World
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