Almost 600 rescued in RP ship incident<\/p>\n
MANILA (Reuters): Almost 600 survivors were plucked from rough
\nseas after a Philippine ship packed with passengers returning
\nhome for Christmas sank shortly before dawn on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Officials said 591 people had been rescued, nine were dead and
\n58 were still missing by 6 p.m. (5 p.m. Jakarta time), about 13
\nhours after the accident in the Visayan Sea in the central
\nPhilippines.<\/p>\n
\"While there were those who perished, the biggest Christmas
\ngift from above was that the casualties were not of previous
\nproportions,\" Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado told Reuters.<\/p>\n
The Philippines, an archipelagic nation where sea transport is
\nwidely used, has a poor maritime record. In 1987, some 4,300
\npeople were killed when a ferry collided with an oil tanker near
\nManila in the world's worst peacetime sea disaster.<\/p>\n
That accident also took place in the week before Christmas,
\nwhen people in this Roman Catholic nation jam airports, bus
\nstations and ports looking to get home for the celebrations.<\/p>\n
\"December is the season wherein some people are a little lax
\nabout their travel plans and the vessels about their
\nmaintenance... They might have been taking too many chances
\nduring the Christmas season,\" Mercado said.<\/p>\n
\"There's also this eagerness on our part to go home. This is
\npart of the danger.<\/p>\n
\"The problem usually is old, creaky and unseaworthy ships
\ncompounded by overloading and a lack of compliance with safety
\nmeasures, which are poor to start with.\"<\/p>\n
The MV Asia South Korea, carrying 606 passengers and 52 crew
\nfrom the central city of Cebu to Iloilo, left on Wednesday night
\non what should have been a 12-hour voyage.<\/p>\n
It sank off Bantayan Island, 500 km southeast of Manila, at 5
\na.m. after being buffeted by high waves, Mercado said.<\/p>\n
A massive rescue operation was immediately launched. Naval
\nships, other merchant vessels, helicopters and fishing boats
\nconverged on the area, plucking people from the water.<\/p>\n
\"They can still hear people calling...they won't leave until
\nthey pick everyone up,\" said Andriano Afuego, a civil defense
\nofficial in Cebu.<\/p>\n
Television footage showed people bobbing in the sea with
\nbright orange life-vests strapped around their chests as
\nmotorboats moved in.<\/p>\n
Soaked and shivering survivors clambered on to rescue vessels.
\nMany women and children were rescued from lifeboats while those
\nin life-jackets and in the sea were mostly men.<\/p>\n
Officials said the sea was rough at the accident site, some 10
\nnautical miles from Bantayan Island, and that rescue operations
\nwould continue into the night.<\/p>\n
\"Even at this point and time the search and rescue operations
\nare still ongoing,\" said William Acosta, vice president of
\noperations for Trans-Asia Shipping, the ship's owner.<\/p>\n
\"We have dispatched more vessels through coordination with
\nother shipping companies...within this area. We are just thankful
\nto the Lord that all our efforts were quite successful at this
\ntime.\"<\/p>\n
Trans-Asia said the vessel underwent extensive seaworthiness
\nchecks in September.<\/p>\n
Coast Guard Commander Franklin Llanto said departure clearance
\nat Cebu was delayed \"because when we conducted pre-departure
\ninspection, we found out that there were excess passengers, about
\n80 or more than 80 of them\".<\/p>\n
He said the ship had a licensed capacity for 614 passengers
\nand the excess passengers were off-loaded.<\/p>\n
Despite frequent sea disasters, ferries remain the most
\npopular means of long-haul transport in this largely impoverished
\narchipelago of more than 7,000 islands because fares are cheaper
\nthan air travel.<\/p>",
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