ZAMBOANGA, Philippines, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) --
Philippine rescuers managed to save 931 passengers and crew members on board a
huge ferry that tilted and sank early Sunday morning in the waters off the
archipelago's southern coast, officials said.
Glenn Rabonza, executive officer of the National
Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), said Sunday evening that search is still
on for the 28 missing from the capsized Super ferry 9 that carried 964 people on
board.
This photo released by The Philippine
Navy shows passengers dotting the port side of the ill-fated SuperFerry 9
as navy ships move closer to rescue at the high seas of Baturampon Point
in the coast off Zamboanga in southern Philippines, Sept. 6, 2009. The
Superferry 9, a passenger ferry ship carrying nearly 1,000 people,
capsized in the high seas off the southern Philippines on Sunday, leaving
at least three people dead and 88 others missing, the Philippine National
Disaster Coordinating Council said. (Xinhua/HO) Photo Gallery>>>
Rabonza said navy ships, coast guard teams,
commercial and fishery vessels are operating in the accident site, about 9.5
nautical miles west of Siocon town of Zamboanga del Norte province, to account
for the missing.
NDCC Chairman Gilbert Teodoro earlier told a press
briefing that the ship's captain sent out a distress call at around 4 a.m. (0800
GMT) Sunday as the vessle was seriously tilting to its right-side.
Coast guard authorities said passengers were given
life-jackets and told of the captain's order to abandon ship. Two cargo vessles
stood by to collect the transferred passengers while the coast guard sent it
rescue boats to the scene.
"I was wakened to the noise in the cabin. They asked
us to jump off the ship to the life-boats," a survivor told Xinhua after she was
ferried to the Zamboanga port late Sunday. "The life-boats are not enough and I
think some people were panic and failed to escape."
Officials said the ship, which left southern city of
General Santos Saturday and headed for central city of Iloilo, totally sank at
around 10 a.m., 6 hours after it first sent the distress signal.
Survivors of Superferry 9 walk past
security personnel after disembarking from a rescue vessel at the port of
Zamboanga, southern Philippines, Sept. 6, 2009. (Xinhua
Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
Rabonza said the incident was "allegedly caused by a
hole in the hull" but the investigation is still on.
Charlote Amarillo, another survivor arriving at
Zamboanga, told Xinhua that a large sound similar to a minor explosion was heard
in the lower portion of the ship before it started to tilt.
Seamen familiar with the operation of ferries said
the containment might not have been placed even and the sound could becaused by
sliding cargo that hit the hull.
Weather was rough near the southern Zamboanga
peninsular late Saturday.
Marine-time tragedies are a commonplace in the
Philippine archipelago. A ferry carrying 862 on board sank in a typhoon in
central Philippines last summer. More than 800 people were killed or remain
missing.
The Superferry 9, which can carry 1,120 passengers and crew, has been in operation since 1996. It underwent dry-docking in June 2007 and is scheduled to undergo a similar process during the first quarter of next year.
