Survivors say ferry’s officers were missing from bridge

Press, 26 December 1987, Page 6

Survivors say ferry’s officers were missing from bridge

NZPA-Reuter Manila Survivors’ statements from the ferry Dona Paz, which sank in history’s worst peacetime sea disaster, alleged that only an apprentice mate was left on the bridge when the ferry collided with an oil tanker, the Philippines coastguard said Thursday.

A Philippine coastguard commander, Commodore Carlito Cunanan, told a press conference that key officers were allegedly drinking beer and watching videos away from the bridge at the time of the collision late on Sunday night. All crew members of the ferry are thought to have perished along with an estimated 2000 passengers. Two members of the tanker crew were among 26 survivors and Mr Cunanan said the two had been interviewed. He called the allegation “very disturbing” and said the survivors’ statements would be considered in a formal inquiry convened by the Coastguard and

due to open on Monday. The Coastguard is the statutory investigating authority into marine disasters. In a separate statement issued later, the Coastguard said a witness alleged that the chief mate and the third mate were on the ferry’s main deck drinking beer at the time of the collision, while the captain was watching a video in his cabin. A spokesman for Sulpicio Lines, operators of the Dona Paz, said he did not believe only an apprentice mate was left on the bridge when the accident happened. "I don’t believe that. I cannot believe that. An

sinking and Mr Cunanan acknowledged that many — including the exact number on board — were unlikely to ever be answered. “We’ll try to do our best”, he said. The Manila agent of Lloyds of London reported that the Dona Paz had sunk after being rammed amidships by the tanker Victor. Both vessels caught fire and sank. The ferry operators said late on Wednesday that they had filed a formal complaint against the tanker in a preliminary move required prior to a law suit. Relatives of missing passengers told the "Man-

apprentice has to have an officer with him all the time. We are quite strict with our rules,” said Carlos Go, manager of the shipping line’s Cebu office. He also said that if key officers were seen on the main deck before the collision, as survivors have said, that was because they were off duty. “At that time, it was the second mate who was supposed to be on duty. So it was all right if the chief mate and the third mate were away from the bridge,” he said. As a ragtag convoy of jeeps, buses and cargo vessels brought corpses to Manila, dozens of questions remained over the

ila Chronicle” they were considering banding together to try to sue Sulpicio Lines. They did not specify the likely grounds of the action. Fourteen ships on Thursday cruised the deep, blue tropical waters between the islands of Mindoro and Marinduque continuing the grisly task of plucking bloated, decomposing bodies from the sea and the picturepostcard beaches. Plastic "body bags”, have been sent to the remote eastern coastline of Mindoro, one of 7000 islands in the Philippines, where fishing villagers were starting on Thursday to bury the stinking corpses that came in with

the tide. The coastguard said 242 bodies had been recovered so far, while Sulpicio Lines said their ships had recovered about 75. Little wreckage from either ship has been found, with no trace of life jackets either on the victims or floating in the water. “I don’t think that’s unusual considering that there was so much fire,” Mr Cunanan said. At a Manila morgue, mortuary assistants struggled to cope with the flow of bodies as about 200 people waited outside hoping for news of relatives thought to have been on the ferry.