Manila: The death toll from Thursday’s ferry tragedy off the Philippines has reached 59, authorities said, adding that more bodies had been found after rescuers brought the ill-fated boat back to port early on Saturday.
The 33-tonne Kim Nirvana was tugged into the port in Ormoc City, in Leyte. With 59 confirmed dead and 142 survivors in the tragedy, the number of passengers on board the ferry when it went down appears to have been more than 200, including 18 crew members, and not the 190 or 191 as earlier declared in the boat’s passenger manifest, said Capt. Pedro Tinampay, Philippine coast Guard Commander of eastern Visayas district.
One of the bodies found was identified as Bontilao Golano Jr, personal secretary of Mayor Jesus Fernandez of Pilar town in Camotes, Cebu province, the mayor’s office said in a report, adding that the bodies of three infants and seaman Lorenzo Salinas had been recovered late on Friday night.
Many children were among the victims. An eight-month old baby was one of 35 people who were declared dead on arrival at four hospitals in Ormoc, hours after Nirvana sank on Thursday, said Dr Roland Tomaro, medical director of Ormoc Doctors’ Hospital.
May Sopa, 34, a survivor of the disaster, said she, a child, and two other women held on to a plastic container that a male survivor pushed out to them as the boat went down 10 to 20 minutes after it had left the port.
“I survived, but I didn’t know how to swim,” said Sopa. Rescuers brought her and her three fellow survivors to Ormoc Doctors Hospital.
The Philippine Red Cross moved survivors to hospitals in ambulances and helped family members of the deceased find the bodies of their loved ones, said Red Cross Chairman Richard Gordon, adding that non-government organisations and government agencies had been helping transfer bodies of victims to their homes. Most of those who died hailed from nearby Camotes, Cebu, which was to be the final destination of the ill-fated boat.
Coast guard spokesperson Commander Armand Balilo, sharing details about initial investigations, said, “We’re looking at human error as the possible reason why the boat capsized. We’re not discounting bad weather, and the possibility that authorities cleared the boat to sail when it was overloaded with people and cargo.”
Balilo’s office regulates safety measures for commercial ferries.
Survivors said the boat took on water after an abrupt right turn from the port. The ferry was carrying a cargo of 150 bags of cement and sacks of rice at the time. Panick-stricken passengers also forgot to don life vests, they recalled.
The ferry’s captain blamed high waves and a turbulent sea for the disaster.
The boat’s owner, captain, and crew members, including their families were all placed under police custody after Ormoc City’s regional police filed charges against them.
President Benigno Aquino ordered the coast guard’s Maritime Casualty Investigation Team to speed up a comprehensive investigation of the incident.
