700 missing after ferry capsizes

[Monseratto]

Survivor: ‘I could hear children wailing as the boat sank’

LEGAZPI CITY -- More than 700 passengers and 169 crew members of the M/V Princess of the Stars of the Sulpicio Lines, which capsized west of Sibuyan island town, were still unaccounted for as of Sunday afternoon and were feared dead, authorities said.

This developed as four injured survivors were found in the remote village of Mabini in San Fernando, Romblon, after four hours of being swept away at sea on a life boat.

Lamorias, in a mobile phone interview, said he could not forget the hundreds of unconscious bodies floating at sea and the reverberating cries from the victims.

"There were many children trapped inside the boat. I could hear them wailing before the boat sank," Lamorias said.

He remembered hitting his face on a rock, when he was in the sea.

He said the overturned ferry had totally sunk at around 11:45 a.m. Sunday.

Lamorias, who seemed to be in a state of shock, recounted that strong winds and big waves caused the ferry boat to capsize.

He said the lashing that tucked the cargo was torn, which probably affected the balance of the ship while it was being smashed by strong winds and big waves.

"Ang mga alon halos kasing laki ng bundok (The waves were almost the size of a mountain)," Lamorias said in a shaky voice.

"At around 10 a.m. the ship slowed down and started to dance. I noticed that it was running tilted," he added in Filipino.

Lamorias said when the ship's captain announced "abandon ship," many hysterical passengers jumped off the sinking boat.

He said all 14 lifeboats of the Princess of the Stars were let down but big waves still engulfed some of them.

"We were on a life boat for four hours before we reached Barangay Mabini," Lamorias said in-between coughs.

Tansingco said most of the survivors had contusions all over the body and lacerations in the head.

The passenger vessel left the port of Manila at 8 p.m. on Friday and was on its way to Cebu when it sent a distress signal to report "engine trouble" and "listing," chief petty officer Benito Vidal of the Southern Tagalog Coast Guard Station said, quoting reports they received Saturday at 12:55 p.m.

"The national headquarters said there were 626 passengers and 121 crew members aboard the boat," he said.

Other reports, however, placed the number of passengers at 702.

On Sunday, Vidal said they received reports that the boat, sunk "seven nautical miles, north-southwest of Sibuyan Island, Romblon."

Vidal said they had yet to receive reports regarding the current condition of the sunk ferry, or the actual cause of its sinking, although, he said, if the ferry was reported listing, that would usually mean the boat really had a hole that was taking in water.

He said they had yet to establish contact with the deployed rescue boats.

No reports on casualties or sea conditions around Romblon have been received, although Vidal said Batangas sea conditions were calm.

The Coast Guard deployed a boat each from Cebu, Batangas and Manila on the ongoing search and rescue operations for the sunk Sulpicio Lines vessel.

According to the Sulpicio Lines website, the M/V Princess of the Stars is a passenger-cargo vessel, weighing around 23,824 tons and able to accommodate around 1,992 people.

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