Death toll hits 39 in Philippines ferry accident

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

CEBU, Philippines (AP) As the MV Thomas Aquinas cruised toward Cebu city in the central Philippines, navy marshal Richard Pestillos prepared for a brief stop while some passengers watched a band and others soaked in the night breeze on the deck.

Then the scene turned chaotic when the ferry, with 870 passengers and crew, and a cargo ship collided late Friday, ripping a hole in its hull, knocking out its power and causing it to list before rapidly sinking as people screamed, according to Pestillos and other witnesses.

"The sea was very calm and we could already see the lights at the pier," Pestillos told The Associated Press on Sunday by telephone.

"Then very suddenly ... there was a loud bang then the grating sound of metal being peeled off," he said.

Coast guard officials said at least 39 died and more than 80 were missing in the latest deadly sea accident in the Philippines, which happened 570 kilometers (350 miles) south of Manila.

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20130818/AS--Philippines-Ferry.Collision/

[Greenbaum 12,259]

This accident is very tragic.

I read where one of the passenger had just gotten a maid's job in Dubai and she was on her way to the Manila airport to board her plane to Dubai to start her new job. She was able to be rescued but all her money, passport and travel papers were lost in the sinking of the boat. She is undoubtedly happy to be alive but sadden with the prospects of possibly losing the job and then all the time necessary to reconstruct all her documents in order for her to continue her voyage to Dubai if she still has the job.

Our hearts go out to the families of those who were killed and to those who are still waiting for word on the missing. May God rest their souls.

[Hank_ 9,174]

Not to detract from the ferry accident.

Last year during one of the typhoons that caused serious muds slides (and again lives lost) a Filipina lost all her possessions which at that time also included her passport with her visa, the DO NOT OPEN envelope with all the original documents of the completed process and more.

[Cha n Nel 1]

Some interesting tidbits about the accident...

1. The ferry involved is again is from Sulpicio lines (now renamed Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corp after their operations were suspended following the sinking of one of their biggest passenger ships "Princess of The Stars" in 2008

2. The cargo vessel from 2GO is a former Sulpicio lines ship

Sulpicio lines really has some bad juju ever since the Doña Paz (one of the worst maritime accidents in asia that its now notorious of being named as Asia's Titanic)