Ferry flips quickly, trapping passengers
Canadian among rescued, while 36 confirmed dead, captain and crew in custody
MANILA, PHILIPPINES— A ferry carrying 189 people, including at least one Canadian, capsized Thursday, minutes after it left a central Philippine port in choppy waters, leaving at least 36 dead and 26 others missing, coast guard officials said.
They said the Canadian was among at least127 people from the M/B Kim Nirvana who were rescued by nearby fishing boats and coast guard personnel or swam to safety off Ormoc city on Leyte Island. The name and hometown of the Canadian were not immediately available.
A coast guard official told the Star that the passenger manifest was not yet available and she could not confirm who was on board.
Coast guard spokesman Armand Balilo said the wooden outrigger ferry was leaving Ormoc for the Camotes Islands, about 44 kilometres to the south, when it was lashed by strong waves.
He said the captain and some of the crew were rescued and are in custody pending an investigation.
The coast guard official told the Star that survivors of the crash were being transferred to a hospital in Ormoc, but could not confirm the name of the hospital.
“We are co-ordinating the coast guard station in Ormoc city . . . but as of now, we don’t have any updates yet,” the official said.
Survivors told The Associated Press by cellphone that the bow of the ferry suddenly rose from the water before the vessel flipped over on one side, turning it upside down and trapping passengers underneath.
Mary Jane Drake, who was travelling with her mother and American husband, said the ferry was pulling slowly out of the port when it suddenly flipped to the left in strong waves and overturned, trapping her and other passengers. She, her mother and husband swam to safety from underneath the ferry.
“No one was able to jump out because it overturned very swiftly. There was no time to jump,” she said.
Her husband, Lawrence Drake, a 48-year-old retired firefighter from Rochester, N.Y., said he ran to one side of the boat to try to balance it but it was too late. “I jumped out of my seat and ran to the front as far as I could, and tried to lean over. I am a big guy, and tried to push the boat back over but it was way too late.” Many of the passengers were screaming in panic, he said.
TV footage showed coast guard rescuers carrying survivors from rubber boats to a beach. Not far away, the bottom part of the vessel could be seen protruding from the water.
Coast guard officials said it wasn’t immediately clear what caused the accident. Cloudy weather at the time of the accident did not pose any danger that would have forced the coast guard to stop sea voyages, they said.
A brewing storm in the Pacific was 550 kilometres east of Ormoc and was too far away to affect any part of the Philippine archipelago, according to forecasters. They said winds in the Ormoc region were not strong enough to whip up dangerous waves. With files from Star Staff