Hundreds missing in typhoon ferry disaster

By Paul Alexander  |   2008-6-23  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

RESCUERS fought the tail of a typhoon swamping the Philippines to reach a capsized ferry yesterday only to find a mystery - scant signs of the more than 800 passengers and crew.

Only 10 survivors are known to have made it to land, just hours after the ferry, brought to a virtual halt by the storm that killed at least 137 people nationwide, suddenly tilted and went belly-up in about 30 minutes about noon on Saturday.

Six bodies, including a man and woman who had bound themselves together, washed ashore on a high tide awash with children's slippers and life jackets.

So where were the rest of the people traveling from Manila to Cebu, relying on ferries as so many do in the sprawling archipelago? Safe on nearby islands where the storm cut off communications? Swallowed by the sea? Or still inside the hulking vessel built to carry 1,992 people?

Relatives wept awaiting news.

Coast-guard frogmen who managed to get to the stricken ship received no response when they rapped on the hull with metal instruments late yesterday, then had to give up for the night due to heavy seas. They hope to get inside today, likely with American assistance requested by the Philippine Red Cross.

After the storm stymied earlier attempts to reach the ship and kept aircraft at bay, a rescue vessel battled huge waves and strong winds to approach yesterday, more than 24 hours after the ferry lost radio contact. There was no sign of survivors.

"They haven't seen anyone," said coast-guard spokesman Lieutenant Commander Arman Balilo. "They're scouring the area. They're studying the direction of the waves to determine where survivors may have drifted."

Officials were checking reports that a large number of survivors might have reached one nearby island and that a lift raft was spotted off another, said another coast-guard spokesman, Commander Antonio Cuasito. "We can only pray."

Reynato Lanoria, a janitor on the ship, estimated about 100 people could have survived, "but the others were trapped inside."

"I think they are all dead by now," he told DZMM radio after making it to shore by jumping in the water and reaching a life raft.

Passenger Jesus Gica also said that many people were trapped below when the ship listed.

"There were many of us who jumped overboard, but we were separated because of the big waves," he said. "Others were able to board the life rafts, but it was useless because the strong winds flipped them over."

The ferry ran aground just off central Sibuyan island, then capsized, said Mayor Nanette Tansingco of Sibuyan's San Fernando. With the upturned ferry visible from her town, she appealed for food, medicine and embalming fluid for bodies.

"I'm very worried ... I need to know what happened to my family," said Felino Farionin, his voice cracking. His wife, son and four in-laws were on the ferry. In the central province of Iloilo, Governor Neil Tupaz said 59 people drowned, with another 40 missing. "Almost all the towns are covered by water," Tupaz said.

Packing gale-force winds the typhoon shifted course yesterday to the northwest and battered Manila at dawn, dumping heavy rain on the capital. Major streets were flooded, and many traffic lights were out.