Body bags needed in the recovery of bodies from the sunken Princess of Stars
(Photo file of rescue operation from the internet)
Philippine authorities are running short of body bags and formaldehyde in the recovery of victims from the capsized ferry. Meanwhile about 1 billion pesos ($22.4 million) is the estimated cost of damage to homes, bridges, and roads of the typhoon “Frank.” Around 1,100 deaths have been recorded also as the result of the typhoon. Relief operations to typhoon victims is on-going even if President Arroyo has left the country recently for an official trip to the U.S.
USS Ronald Reagan to aid in the relief effort…
Reuters
SIBUYAN ISLAND – Some 50 bodies were found 100 km (60 miles) from a giant capsized ferry in the Philippines on Wednesday, and Washington said it would send an aircraft carrier to help with typhoon relief efforts.
Typhoon “Frank” (international codename Fengshen) tore into the center of the country at the weekend, toppling the MV Princess of the Stars, with 865 passengers and crew on board, as well as a coal tanker and eight fishing vessels, and displaced hundreds of thousands.
The overall death toll from the sixth typhoon to hit the Philippines this storm season could reach around 1,100, while the damage bill to homes, bridges and roads has been put at nearly P1 billion ($22.4 million).
The United States, the Philippines’ former colonial master, pledged to send an aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, to aid in the relief effort in the storm battered archipelago of more than 7,000 islands.
The main focus of the rescue effort has been the seven-storey ferry where hundreds are still feared trapped. U.S. and Philippine divers on Wednesday were scouting first class cabins on the ship before descending deeper.
So far, 48 people are known to have survived the ferry disaster but hopes of finding more alive are dim.
On Wednesday, about 50 bodies were found floating around 100 km (60 miles) north of the Princess of the Stars but Lieutenant-Colonel Edgard Arevalo could not yet confirm if they were from the ferry.
So far, 60 corpses had been found above water, including a Caucasian but officials said it was not possible yet to identify his nationality.
The retrieval operation is precarious. The ferry’s stern off the central island of Sibuyan is wedged on a rocky ledge and strong waves could cause it to slide down.
Body bags needed
Rescuers, meanwhile, are running short of body bags and formaldehyde.
“Right now, what our navy personnel are using to control the smell is gin,” said Arevalo.
In the central city of Cebu, relatives were waiting for the first ship to arrive from Sibuyan island bringing the bodies of their loved ones. Doctors, finger print technicians and a dentists were on hand to help with the identification.
Shipping tragedies are common in the Philippines, where safety rules are poorly implemented and substandard vessels ply dangerous waters.
An inquiry has already started into the Princess of the Stars tragedy. Sulpicio Lines said the coast guard had given it permission to sail and the captain tried to seek shelter when he realized Typhoon Fengshen had changed direction.
One survivor, who drifted for nearly 24 hours on a rubber dingy, said focusing on his relatives kept him alive.
“I just kept on thinking my family needs me. They are relying on me for our daily survival. I don’t want them to just discover the following day that I am already a cold corpse.”
The tragedy could be the Philippines’ worst maritime disaster since 1987 when the Dona Paz ferry collided with an oil tanker, killing more than 4,000 people.
Sulpicio Lines, which owns the Princess of the Stars, also owned the Dona Paz.
Fengshen, which has weakened to a tropical storm over southern China, has also killed at least 288 people in the south and centre of the country, disaster officials said.
More than 430,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes, and nearly 300,000 people remain with friends and relatives or are packed into churches, town halls and schools.
Tags: Philippines, President Arroyo, Princess of the Stars tragedy, Sibuyan island, Sulficio Lines, typhoon frank, USS Ronald Reagan
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June 30, 2008 at 12:33 pm
As if being the Philippines’ “former colonial master” is at all relevant to the generous offer of help from the United States in our time of need, is just Reuters’ way of urging and abetting the attitude so disdained by the rest of the world shown by Burmese military junta following their own natural disaster recently: irrational, self-loathing, ideological.
July 1, 2008 at 12:26 am
DJB Rizalist,
Thanks for the comment. Sad to say, many in the Philippines still think Uncle Sam is indispensable in our national affairs. Can’t we not stand without our former colonial master? Anyway extending disaster aids is a universal gesture of compassion. Thanks again Rizalist.