Friday, August 16, 2013
CEBU CITY (7th Update) -- A passenger vessel sank off Talisay City, Cebu after colliding with a cargo vessel Friday evening, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) reported.
Coast Guard station commander Weniel Azcuna said they received the distress call around 9 p.m. Friday, adding that rescue operation is ongoing.
He said the vessels involved are M/V Saint Thomas Aquinas of 2Go Travel bound for Cebu from Nasipit, Agusan del Norte, and M/V Sulpicio Express 7, which is bound for Davao.
The PCG cannot yet give the exact number of passengers onboard the vessels, but radio reports said M/V Saint Thomas Aquinas had more or less 692 passengers while M/V Sulpicio Express Siete had 36 crew.
Some survivors are already in Talisay City, while others were brought to the Cebu City port area. Others were rushed to the Talisay City District Hospital and Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.
Nine survivors were housed at the residence of Barangay Tangke captain Perla Cabanes. They were identified as Domingo Mantilla of Butuan; Janley Ellera of San Juan, Bayugan; Gemma Domino of Alipay, Hinoog City; Glenda Abanella of Quezon City; Mildred Lumapas of Surigao Del Norte; Florenda Maghuyop of Cabadbaran City, Agusan del Norte; Rosanna Lamanilao of Cabadbaran City, Agusan del Norte; Normeley Sombreo of Surigao, Agusan Del Norte; Gloria Cabudbod of Bato, Leyte; and a boy around one to three years old.
Some of them said they were given life jackets, and tugboats were inflated but it was too dark at sea.
Adela Guevarra, one of the passengers, said she and her son, 4, were forced to jump to the sea as M/V St. Thomas Aquinas sank.
Another survivor said some children and elders might still be trapped inside the passenger vessel.
Azcuna said the PCG dispatched a rescue team to the area. He said the Philippine Navy also sent its personnel, while some commercial vessels are helping in the ongoing rescue operation.
The M/V Saint Thomas Aquinas is 138 meters in length and 22 meters wide. It has a gross tonnage of 11,405 and with maximum recorded speed of 17.3 knots.
The M/V Sulpicio Express Siete, on the other hand, is a general cargo ship that was built in 1981. It is 146 meters in length and 21 meters wide, with maximum recorded speed of 5.8 knots. (LRM/JAC/Sunnex)
Passenger, cargo vessels collide off Cebu | Sun.Star
Another link:
17 dead as passenger ship sinks off Cebu
ABS-CBNnews.com
Posted at 08/17/2013 12:39 AM |
Updated as of 08/17/2013 12:50 AM
MANILA (4th UPDATE) – At least 17 people were killed after a passenger ship sank Friday night following a collision with a cargo vessel off the coast of Talisay City, Cebu, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said.
Authorities said the collision between 2GO passenger vessel MV St. Thomas Aquinas and Sulpicio Express 7 occurred at Lawis Ledge at around 8:45 p.m.
Hundreds of passengers of the 2GO passenger vessel MV St. Thomas Aquinas had to jump into the water as the ship began to sink.
A total of 692 passengers and crew members were reportedly on board the vessel.
PCG Vice-Commandant for Operations Rear Admiral Luis Tuason Jr. said search and rescue operations are being conducted by the PCG and Philippine Navy. Several fishing vessels are also helping in the rescue.
Authorities said 575 passengers have been rescued, as of 12:35 a.m.
Most of the survivors were brought to the Talisay District Hospital.
The MV St. Thomas Aquinas came from Agusan del Norte and was headed for Manila via Cebu.
One of the passengers, Mantilla Domingo, said the ship was scheduled to arrive in Cebu at around 10 p.m.
"Something caught up with the vessel and then I just saw that it was already slowly sinking. The passengers then started jumping out of the vessel," said Domingo.
Another passenger who was rescued, Glenda Sabadilla, said most of the passengers were already sleeping when the incident happened.
"Then there was a commotion and everyone was already searching for their life vests, and then we all started jumping out of the sinking vessel," she said.
Rachel Capuno, a security officer of the ferry's owners, told a Cebu radio station that the ship was sailing into port when it collided head-on with the cargo ship.
"The impact was very strong," she said, adding the ferry sank within 30 minutes of the collision.
PCG spokesman Commander Armando Balilo said there was no immediate information on how many crew members were aboard the cargo ship.
The cause of the collision was not immediately known. -- Reports from Zandro Ochona and June Perez, dzMM; Edgar Escalante and Carine Asutilla, ABS-CBN News Central Visayas; Agence France-Presse
Passenger, cargo vessels collide off Cebu - August 16, 2013
Originally Posted by b1 huck
I'm alive and sa mga alive. If that's not something to be grateful for then I don't know what it is. 
Posting Permissions
