SEPTEMBER 19, 2010


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■ Philippine Coast Guard rescue personnel approach the bow of the sunken ferry MV Princess of the Stars off the coast of central Sibuyan Island on June 23, 2008. The ferry sank in a typhoon with 862 people on board, a Navy spokesman said. AFP FILE PHOTO


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Sunday Times MagazineB1 Special Report MARITIME SAFETY


UP expert blames centralized policy for recurring mishaps


10


WORST SHIP DISASTERS


(EXCLUDING WARTIME SINKINGS)


COMPILED BY EULA DENNISA P. VALDEZ RESEARCHER


DEADLY SEAS I


BY FRANK LLOYD TIONGSON REPORTER


T seems that as surely as the rainy season happens yearly, so do sea tragedies in the Philippines during the same period—a major


concern for the archipelago of more than 7,000 islands.


MV Doña Paz (Philippines) The Doña Paz was built in 1963 by


Onomichi Zosen in Hiroshima, Japan. In 1975, it was sold to Sulpicio Lines, which renamed it Don Sulpicio, and later, Doña Paz. Official capacity: 1,518 Date of sinking: December 20, 1987 Cause of sinking: The Doña Paz collided with MT Vector, an oil tanker. No. of passengers: 4000 No. of casualties: 4,341 No. of survivors: 26


SS Kiangya (China) A passenger steamship. Official capacity: 1,186 Date of sinking: December 3, 1948 Cause of sinking: The ship blew up, probably after hitting a mine. No. of passengers: 2,150 No. of casualties: Between 2,750 and 3,920. No. of survivors: 700 to 1,000


SS Mont-Blanc (Canada) A freighter. Official capacity: 1,186 Date of sinking: December 6, 1917 Cause of sinking: Mont-Blanc, which was fully loaded with wartime explosives, collided with the Norwegian ship Imo. No. of passengers: Unknown No. of casualties: About 2,000 were killed by debris or in fires or buildings that have collapsed. Over 9,000 were injured. No. of survivors: Unknown


MV Le Joola (Senegal) Le Joola was constructed in Germany and was put to sea in 1990. Official capacity: 580 Date of sinking: September 26, 2002 Cause of sinking: The ship capsized in stormy weather. No. of passengers: Almost 2,000 No. of casualties: At least 1,863. No. of survivors: 64


Sultana (US) A Mississippi River paddlewheeler. Official capacity: 376 Date of sinking: April 27, 1865 Cause of sinking: Three of the steamship’s four boilers exploded. No. of passengers: 2,300 No. of casualties: About 1,700 No. of survivors: Unknown


RMS Titanic (US) An Olympic-class passenger liner, the


Titanic was owned by the White Star Line and constructed at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland. Official capacity: 3,547 Date of sinking: April 14, 1912 Cause of sinking: Collision with iceberg. No. of passengers: 2,223 No. of casualties: 1,517 No. of survivors: 706


PS General Slocum (US) A sidewheel steam passenger ship, also


known as a paddle steamer. Date of sinking: June 15, 1904 Cause of sinking: Caught fire and burned to the waterline. No. of passengers: 1,342 No. of casualties: 1,021 No. of survivors: 321


RMS Empress of Ireland (Canada)


An ocean liner built in 1905 by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering. Official capacity: 1,550 Date of sinking: May 29, 1914 Cause of sinking: Collision with Norwegian collier SS Storstad. No. of passengers: 1,477 No. of casualties: 1,012 No. of survivors: 465


MS al-Salam Boccaccio 98 (Egypt) An Egyptian Ro/Ro passenger ferry, operated by El Salam Maritime Transport. Official capacity: 1,310 Cause of sinking: Fire. There were also reports of the ship listing soon after leaving port and becoming severe some hours later. No. of passengers: About 1,400 No. of casualties: About 1,000 No. of survivors: 388 Date of sinking: February 3, 2006


MS Estonia (Estonia) Previously called the MS Viking Sally (1980–1990), MS Silja Star (–1991), and MS Wasa King (–1993), the MS Estonia was a cruise ferry built in 1980 at the German shipyard Meyer Werft in Papenburg. Date of sinking: September 28, 1994 Cause of sinking: Undetermined No. of passengers: 989 No. of casualties: 852 No. of survivors: 137


Despite the vital importance of sea travel to link the islands and a public outraged by recurring accidents, however, government has struggled to address the problem. An expert on maritime management pos- ited that the highly centralized nature of the


country’s maritime policies could be the culprit behind the various issues hounding the industry particularly on safety. For University of the Philippines law pro- fessor Jay Batongbacal, a specialist in the field of coastal and marine policy and man-


Integration


Batongbacal, who is also former executive director of the Philippine Center for Marine Affairs, noted that maritime management in the Philippines is highly complex since it is an archipelago. “You would expect that domestic travel


➤PolicyA2 AQUINO GOVT MOVES TO END SEA TRAGEDIES BY DARWIN G. AMOJELAR SENIOR REPORTER


PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino 3rd has given march- ing orders to once and for all end within six years the vicious cycle of sea tragedies that plague the archi- pelago, an official said. ”Our target is zero maritime accident,” Aneli Lontoc, undersecretary for maritime transport of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), told The Manila Times.


Lontoc said that Transportation Secretary Jose “Ping” de Jesus has ordered his people to draw up an


action plan to promote maritime safety in the next six years. ”Although there are already safety programs and measures being done, the Secretary [de Jesus] would like to further improve our safety records,” she added. As an archipelagic country, Lontoc said that sea dis-


asters were understandably frequent because the ferry system is one of the major modes of transportation connecting the country’s more than 7,000 islands. The maritime industry is an important indus- try in the country, contributing significantly to


➤TragediesA2


Victims’ relatives in ‘Princess’ sinking still waiting for justice


BY ROMMEL C. LONTAYAO REPORTER


IT was June 21, 2008. A ship car- rying more than 800 people— 724 passengers and 121 crew— crossed the path of a strong ty- phoon. And as parts of the ferry were battered by the storm, the ship, along with its passengers, was taken by the sea. More than two years has passed since the MV Princess of the Stars sank off the coast of Romblon province at the height of Typhoon Frank (international name Fengshen), yet many of the victims’ rela- tives still feel the anguish as justice has not been fully accorded to them. Take for example the case of sisters Stella and Heidee Laurel. They lost their parents and their five siblings in the tragedy. And up to this day, only two of the seven bodies have been recovered.


“Imagine the emotional load that this trag- edy has caused them, they lost seven mem- bers of their immediate family,” Chief Public Attorney Persida Rueda-Acosta said. “Add to


that the fact that not all bodies are not yet found.” The Public Attorneys Office,


headed by Acosta, has been assist- ing the victims’ families and rep- resenting them in the cases filed against Sulpicio Lines—the ship- ping company that owned and operated the Princess of the Stars.


Last goodbye


■ Public defender, Chief Persida Acosta FILE PHOTO


The Laurel family had been liv- ing in Cavite before Nilo—the father who had been struggling to find a job—found one in Cebu. The family decided to re- ➤PrincessA2


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■ Undersecretary Aneli Lontoc FILE PHOTO


Big shipping companies on ‘bad’ list


NOT even two of the largest the shipping companies in the Philippines—Aboitiz Transport Corp. and Sulpicio Lines Inc. — have been able to avoid being linked to the country’s appalling maritime safety record. Last year, the Maritime Industry Authority temporarily grounded Aboitiz after its SuperFerry 9, sank off Zamboanga with almost 1,000 passengers and crew. Two years ago, Sulpicio Lines


was also grounded after its MV Princess of the Stars sank with more than 700 people on board. Of the all the shipping firms in the country, Sulpicio is perhaps the most problematic. It has been involved in four major maritime disasters, including the 1988 Doña Paz tragedy in ➤CompaniesA2


agement, failing to take into account the country’s archipelagic nature and its social setting leads to gaps in policies. A responsive maritime practice, he ex- plained, would involve decentralizing mari- time management including policy-forma- tion, monitoring, as well as enforcement.


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