Divers hasten search for 19 as storm nears

Rescue teams intensified yesterday the search for 19 people, including a town mayor, who remained missing after a ferry boat sank off Surigao City last Saturday, even as a tropical storm approaches the eastern part of the country and threatens rescue operations at the site where 15 bodies have so far been recovered.

Surigao del Norte Gov. Lyndon Barbers said 66 people were rescued by a passing boat and Coast Guard rescue teams that were deployed after M/B Leonida II capsized last Saturday afternoon off Hinatuan Island when strong waves battered the wooden-hulled ferry.

Surigao City Mayor Alfonso Casurra said divers are still searching the area around Hinatuan even as an approaching tropical storm, whose international name is "Durian," caused rough waters that could jeopardize rescue operations.

Casurra, who was on board a Coast Guard ship scouring the area where the Leonida II capsized, said divers were searching for the sunken ferry which is believed to be lying about 76 meters underwater.

"This is a big, big area and the water is becoming rough because of an approaching typhoon," Casurra said. The tropical storm has formed east of the Philippines and may strengthen into a typhoon in the next 24 hours, weather forecasters said.

The weather bureau reported that as of yesterday afternoon tropical storm Durian was estimated at 1,440 kilometers east of Visayas with maximum sustained winds of 75 kilometer per hour near the center and gusts of up to 90 kph. It is forecast to move west at 19 kph.

The ill-fated Leonida II was allegedly overloaded and also carrying 300 sacks of cement, 18 sacks of rice, and cases of softdrinks when it was hit by huge waves while on its way from Surigao City to Del Carmen town in Siargao Island, a famous surfing resort for both local and foreign tourists.

Barbers had ordered an investigation of the worst sea tragedy that hit the province this year wherein 15 people drowned while 19 others, including Mayor Arlencita Navarro of Del Carmen town, were reported missing.

Some 66 passengers were rescued while search and rescue operations continue for the remaining missing passengers. The ill-fated M/B Leonida II sank at around 2 p.m. Saturday The boat’s manifest only listed 47 passengers.

Barbers identified the fatalities as Juanita Comon, 65; Evangeline Sumando, 45; Percilliano Jornales, 56; Rogelia Pacqueo, 46; Froilan Dullpra, 15; Karen Jornales, 15; Estelito Cumbay, 70; Elsa Salucop, Enrica Mer, Kearney Ken Madrio, 5; Arlene Sulima, 35; Lina Jornales, 40; Karen Claire Rondes, Edgar Iñanez, and Roslyn Golo.

Authorities recorded 21 people missing but two sisters in the passenger manifest showed up late Sunday to say they failed to board the ferry, Casurra said.

The skipper and nine other crewmembers, who were all rescued alive, told investigators the vessel tilted to the right (starboard) due to big waves then was smashed by a huge wave, causing it to overturn before sinking with many trapped passengers still on board, Cassura said.

"I heard a loud thud as waves hit the ferry. Then it overturned and sank," surviving schoolteacher Flormina Dolfina said.

"I know many people were trapped in there."

"I held on to my son and managed to swim out of the overturned vessel, but other panicking passengers grabbed me and I lost him in the waters," she said. Rescuers retrieved the body of Dolfina’s three-year-old son late Saturday.

A passing roll-on roll-off (Ro-Ro) boat, the M/V Maria Sofia, rescued passengers and crewmen who jumped off the ferry. Coast Guard personnel rescued two crewmembers off Hinatuan early Sunday, Barbers said.

Branch Officer Rainier Villanueva of the Montenegro Shipping Lines that owned the rescue boat M/V Maria Sophia, said the Sophia’s crew were alerted of the distressed Leonida II by a girl who was one of the passengers of the Ro-Ro boat.

The girl from Dapa town who was not immediately identified was suffering from sea sickness and was vomiting at the stern of the Maria Sophia that was cruising about two kilometers ahead of the Leonida II .

Villanueva said the girl was at the back of the Ro-Ro boat and she saw the sinking Leonida II and immediately alerted the Maria Sophia’s crew.

The Ro-Ro boat turned around and was able to rescue 54 passengers.

"It was the kid vomiting at that time at the back portion of M/V Maria Sophia who saw first the sinking boat at around 1:35 p.m. prompting our boat captain Juan Manalo to maneuver his ship back to rescue passengers," said Villanueva.

The crew of the Maria Sophia radioed the firm’s office in Surigao City and the Coast Guard was asked to join the rescue operations.

"Since Coast Guard lacked a motor boat that time, they even borrowed the company’s fastcraft M/V City of Lucena to join the rescue operations," Villanueva said. 

The ill-fated ferry was headed to Del Carmen town on Siargao Island from Surigao City when it encountered rough seas and rain. There was no major storm in the area but the sea rapidly turned rough ahead of the sinking, Barbers said.

Among those missing was Del Carmen Mayor Navarro and another councilor from Surigao, Barbers said.

Navarro was apparently on the way back home along with a group of students who had attended a conference in Siargao city, he said.

Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) officials of Surigao City had grounded the two other ferry boats of Leonida Shipping Lines, owner of the Leonida II.

MARINA officer-in-charge Maria Roselyn Castano said the operations of M/B Leonida II and M/B Leonida 5A were suspended pending the investigation of the tragedy.

The owners of the shipping company Domingo Paredes, and his wife Leonida have also apologized to the families of the victims.

"Accidents cannot be avoided. I ask forgiveness. I hope the families of the victims will not be angry with me, this was not intentional," he told radio dzBB.

TV footage showed throngs of relatives grieving beside a row of white coffins bearing the victims in a public gymnasium in Surigao City. In front of each coffin was a small box on a plastic chair with a carton label marked, "donation."

"This is so unfortunate a tragedy because the people were already looking (forward) to Christmas," said Barbers as he visited the victims in the gymnasium, pledging to shoulder burial expenses.

Cassura said coast guard divers capable of reaching the ferry’s wreckage would begin to help in the search for victims on Monday.

"We are very hopeful and we’re praying we’ll still find survivors," Barbers said, adding some of the missing may have been marooned in nearby islands and islets.

"If not, God forbids, I hope we can recover their bodies," he said.

Boat accidents happen frequently in the Philippines because many ferries, a key mode of transport in the archipelago, are old and poorly maintained, while enforcement of safety regulations is weak. – With AP