17.08 Over 20 Dead, Scores Missing in Philippines Ferry Sinking
MOSCOW/BALI, August 17 (RIA Novosti) - At least 26 people died and more than 200 are missing after a Philippines passenger ferry collided with a cargo vessel and sank on Friday evening, local media said.
According to a coast guard statement cited by the GMA News website on Saturday, at least 26 people have died and 215 are unaccounted for.
The MV Saint Thomas Aquinas was heading for a scheduled stop in a port in the Cebu province when it collided with the MV Sulpicio Express Seven. Coast Guard Cebu Station Commander Weniel Azcuna told radio dyHP that the ferry sank some 15 minutes after the collision. The accident took place around 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the shore, BBC said.
We were so close to the port, and then disaster struck, a survivor, 43-year-old Jessica Varquez, told the Sun Star Cebu news website. The vessel shook violently and the passengers began to panic.
Another survivor, Adela Guevara, said the ships crew didnt warn them about the danger and that life jackets were not distributed while the ship was sinking. She and her four-year-old son jumped off the ship and survived.
The cargo vessel, which had 36 crew members and officials on board, remained afloat after the collision, Waterfront Police Chief Waldemar Tiu was quoted as saying by Sun Star Cebu.
The overall number of people on board the sunken Saint Thomas Aquinas remains unknown. Agence France-Presse said 870 people were on board. Sun Star Cebu said only that the vessel carried 723 passengers and an unknown number of crew members. The Philippine Daily Inquirer put the number of passengers at 692, citing coast guard figures.
The rescue effort involved two coast guard vessels, a Navy gunship, joined by an unknown number of fishing boats. According to GMA News, about 629 people were rescued so far.
