Saturday, September 5, 2009

Ship tilts off Zamboanga; rescue launched for 959 passengers

Coast Guard and Navy ships rushed to the Zamboanga Peninsula in Mindanao early Sunday to rescue some 959 passengers from a tilting "SuperFerry 9" vessel.Radio dzBB's Lito Laparan reported the SuperFerry 9, which had 847 passengers and 112 crew, was tilting more than 50 degrees when rescuer rushed to the scene at 6:30 a.m. Sunday."Ang report sa amin, ... kumukuha na ng life raft, in coordination with SuperFerry managment... Ang kaninang 'di tumatalon umpisa nang tumatalon mula sa barko (In coordination with SuperFerry, two nearby vessels are now rescuing passengers aboard life rafts. The passengers who were scared to jump off have started abandoning the SuperFerry as well)," Coast Guard spokesman Cmdr. Armand Balilo said in an interview on dzBB radio.Balilo said sea marshals were also sent to the vessel to calm panicking passengers.He said Coast Guard commandant Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo ordered a general alert in the area to maritime units and vessels to render assistance while Coast Guard and Navy vessels rush to the site.The Coast Guard sent search-and-rescue vessels BRP Batangas from Cebu, and BRP Corregidor from Palawan to help in search-and-rescue work, he said.Navy spokesman Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo said they have deployed two new multi-purpose attack craft and an Islander aircraft to help in the rescue operations.Aboitiz, which owns the SuperFerry, sent the container ship "Myriad" to the area to help in rescue operations.The MV Ocean Integrity, a passing passenger ship, was also in the area.The dzBB report said SuperFerry 9 crew already deployed 30 life rafts with 25-person capacity but many passengers still refused to get off the ship because they were scared.Initial investigation showed the ship started to list at 2 a.m. It was not immediately clear what caused the ship to tilt and on what side it was tilting.The ship left General Santos City at 8:45 a.m. Saturday and was heading for Iloilo.

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