Sulpicio Ferry Capsizes during Typhoon

Princess of the Stars – Sulpicio Ferry Capsizes during Typhoon Frank

Here are some headlines from the disastrous ferry sinking of the Princess of the Stars during the Typhoon Frank in the Philippines.

June 21, 2008

Typhoon Frank hit southern Samar and northern Tacloban in Leyte with steady winds of 140 kph gusting to 170.

The typhoon passed over the island of Samar dumping a lot of rain and tearing up the landscape as it went. It had already been raining for 3 days in Samar and the ground was soft. Many trees were upended and the electricity was out as electricity lines went down.

I watched the typhoon pass from the window in my apartment in Catbalogan Samar.

I didn’t get any pictures of the actual typhoon because the wind was blowing the rain too hard and I didn’t want to wreck the camera.

The rain blew in in under the door of a second story apartment.

It was beautiful in a way – to witness such power.

Then the news about the ferry disaster came in. It didn’t look good because the Princess of the Stars had capsized. Very few survivors were rescued, most of them picked up from surrounding islands.

It looked like the majority of the passengers had been trapped inside the ship as it rolled over.

There was hope, but it was several days before a rescue operation was in operation.

There was very little information coming in for the families of the passengers.

The blame game just started.

Who was at fault? The coast guard? Sulpicio? The ships captain? The typhoon?

It just didn’t look good. Even if some survivors survived the roll over, there just wasn’t enough technical rescue equipment and divers available to venture far into the capsized ferry to check for them.

Us frogmen join the Philippine rescue people. It then came out that toxic pesticides were part of the cargo and that presented another obstacle.

At this time most of the bodies are still trapped in the overturned ship and it is in the lawyers hands.

Some people have suggested that a look into the operating procedures of Sulpicio be looked into because they have had several catastrophic maritime accidents.

There does seem to have been contributing factors but lets see what the investigators come up with.

There is still an undetermined count of those lost. There were around 845 people on the vessel and possibly 11 others not on the passenger list.

Princess of the Stars ferry disaster