Sulpicio Ferry Capsizes

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. It 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 poles went down. I watched the typhoon pass from the loft 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 was blowing in under the door of a second story room. 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, mostly picked up from surrounding islands. It looked like most of the passengers had been trapped inside the ship when it rolled over. Still hope was held on to but it was several days before a rescue operation was in full swing because of the location of the disaster and the location of the wreck. 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 there just wasn't enough technical rescue equipment and divers available to venture fare into the ferry to see. Us frogmen join the Philippine rescue people. It then came out that toxic pesticides were part of the cargo and that presented another obstacle as they were said to be highly poisonous. It didn't look good. At this time most of the bodies are still trapped in the uverturned ship and it is in the lawers hands. Some people have suggested that a look into the operating procedures of Sulpicio be looked into because they have had an unusually high amount of 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. 2008   www.dutchpickle.com

 

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