820 missing people from ferry capsized in a typhoon

Article historyAnxious relatives crowded the offices of a shipping line today as fears grew for the fate of up to 820 passengers and crew aboard a ferry that capsized in a typhoon that lashed the central Philippines.

As darkness fell, hope was fading that any of the missing would be found alive after a coastguard ship, battling huge seas and fierce winds, finally reached the MV Princess of Stars to find only its bow jutting from the water several miles off shore.

Villagers on Sibuyan island discovered three survivors, but another six bodies, including a man and woman who had lashed themselves together, were found washed up on the shore.

Radio contact with the 23,824-tonne ferry was lost on Saturday after its engines failed and it ran aground on sandbank as Typhoon Fengshen, packing winds gusting up to 121mph, battered the Philippines and whipped up enormous seas.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo berated the civil defence and coastguard authorities, demanding to know why the Cebu-bound ferry was allowed to leave port in Manila on Friday when it was clear that the typhoon, the sixth this year, would hit the country.

Last night the Philippines Red Cross said at least 155 people across the sprawling archipelago had been killed by the high winds and torrential rains that ripped off roofs and triggered deadly mudslides and flash flooding. Thousands more were made homeless by the storm.

Officials from Sulpicio Lines, the ferry's owners, said the ship's manifest showed there were 626 passengers and 121 crew aboard when it set sail, but local reports said the number could have been as high as 820.

Coastguards lost contact with the ship about 12.30pm (0530BST) yesterday after the captain reported engine failure and said his vessel was drifting helplessly in the stormy seas. Fuel and other cargo was dumped overboard in an effort to lighten the load.

A rescue effort by a coastguard ship was beaten back by the ferocious weather and it was not until today that the first of four coastguard ships reached the area. Sibuyan islanders could see the stricken ferry's remains, but could not put to sea in the storm.

Several dozen relatives of the passengers waited for word at the Manila offices of Sulpicio Lines, some weeping quietly as time passed and they began to fear the worst.

"I'm very worried. I need to know what happened to my family," said Felino Farionin, his voice cracking. His wife, son and four in-laws were on the ferry.

Another relative, Lina Salinas, said she had seen off her sister on the 22-hour voyage, aware there was a typhoon alert, but discounted it as it was only the lowest level: number one.

"We knew it was signal 'number one' at the time, but we were not really worried because it was not raining here at all," she said.

"But the ship should not have been allowed to leave."

In a conference call with officials played live on national radio, President Arroyo was angry and equally puzzled that the ship had been given the go-ahead to venture out in such at such a perilous time.

"Why did you allow it to sail and why was there no ample warning?" she asked civil defence and coastguard chiefs during the briefing on the disaster. "I want answers."

The mounting death toll across the country included 59 in the province of Iloilo, where another 40 people were also missing, with most towns in the area covered in flood waters left by the relentless downpour.

"Iloilo is like an ocean," said the province's governor, Neil Tupaz. "This is the worst disaster we have had in our history."