178 saved as ship sinks off Iloilo
ILOILO CITY, Philippines—Passengers of the ill-fated passenger ship MV Asia Malaysia prayed for hours for help to come as the vessel listed and eventually sank off the coast of Iloilo Sunday morning.
All 134 passengers and 44 crew were rescued by passing fishermen and other vessels (the MV Filipinas Cebu and the MT Phil Visayas), and Coast Guard boats.
“I lost all my belongings, even my handbag, but I thank God for saving us,” said Lucia Bocog as she and other passengers disembarked at the Iloilo port Sunday noon.
The steel-hulled Asia Malaysia was heading from Cebu to Iloilo on an overnight trip when it began to tilt to the right, or starboard side, at dawn Sunday, Coast Guard chief Adm. Ramon Liwag said. The cause of the problem was not immediately clear.
The ship’s captain sent out a distress call to the Coast Guard and ordered all passengers and crew to abandon the 2,400-ton vessel at about 6 a.m. The Asia Malaysia went under amid rain at about 9 a.m. some six kilometers from its destination, Coast Guard spokesperson Lt. Commander Algier Ricafrente said.
A Coast Guard helicopter was scouring the area as of 4 p.m. for other survivors and to check if there was an oil slick from the ship, he said.
“I don’t know how to swim and I did not want to leave the ship… I prayed like never before that help would come,” said Bocog of Mandurriao district, Iloilo City.
Wearing a life jacket, Bocog, 45, was finally convinced by other passengers to jump from the sharply listing ship and was helped on a lifeboat then on to a passing ship 30 minutes later.
Commodore Athelo Ybañez, Western Visayas Coast Guard commander, said the 178 passengers and crew members were rescued after ship captain Romualdo Geraldizo issued an abandon-ship order before the vessel sank off Calabasas Island, Ajuy town, around 87 km northeast of Iloilo City.
In a statement, Trans-Asia Shipping Lines Inc., which operated the vessel, said 110 passengers were on board.
Ybañez said the ship had a passenger limit of 551.
The ship left Cebu at 6 p.m. Saturday and was scheduled to arrive in Iloilo at 8 a.m. Sunday.
Ybañez said 10 crew members and the captain stayed behind until they transferred to a lifeboat shortly before the vessel went down.
Trans-Asia claimed the vessel was sailing normally on course until 4 a.m. Sunday when it encountered strong winds and big waves.
But some passengers said they were roused from their sleep at midnight when the ship started to list.
Bocog said the ship steadied itself but later listed again near dawn.
Loud crash, sharp list
“We were scared because it was still dark and we didn’t know if there were other ships nearby to rescue us,” she said.
Ronnie Gonzales of Cebu City said he and his companions at the economy section also felt the listing in midnight.
“We heard a loud crash coming from the cargo section below us before the ship listed sharply near dawn,” Gonzales said.
Both Bocog and Gonzales said they did not hear the instructions from the crew to put on life jackets and to abandon ship. But they said the crew lowered the lifeboats.
“They just told us to remain calm. We put on the life jackets ourselves and jumped into the water to the lifeboats on our own,” Bocog said.
She said she suffered bruises climbing from the ship to the lifeboat.
A total of 103 passengers and crew were transported by the MT Phil Visayas to Bacolod City and were taken to Iloilo Sunday afternoon.
Forty-two others were brought by the MV Filipinas Cebu to Iloilo City. The 33 passengers and crew rescued by fishing boats were taken to Ajuy and then to Iloilo City.
The MT Phil Visayas arrived in Bacolod at 12:15 p.m. All 103 passengers were in good condition except for two older women who suffered from hypertension.
Felicidad Arindain, 56, and Eufemia Abonales, 70, of Leyte were brought to the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod for treatment after their blood pressure went up, said Lt. Commander Godofredo Vagilidad, head of the Philippine Coast Guard in Bacolod.
The rest of the 101 passengers transferred to a fastcraft that brought them to Iloilo at 1 p.m.
Looking out for oil slick
Arindain and Abonales were released from the hospital and were brought to Iloilo on another fastcraft Sunday afternoon, said Vagilidad.
The Manapla municipal government is also on the lookout for a possible oil slick. Manapla is three kilometers from the area where the vessel sank.
The Coast Guard will convene a Special Board of Marine Inquiry to investigate the circumstances of the sinking.
Ybañez said they will get the testimonies of the crew and passengers.
On Dec. 23, 1999, the MV Asia South Korea, also operated by Trans-Asia Shipping Lines Inc., sank off Bantayan Island in Cebu. Fifty-four people died. With a report from Guijo Duenas and Carla P. Gomez, Inquirer Visayas; Jerome Aning in Manila; AP
