MANILA: Thirty-one people have died, and three are missing, after three passenger boats capsized after being buffeted by fierce winds and waves off two central Philippine provinces,
Coast guard spokesman Armand Balilo said the dead were mostly passengers of two ferries that flipped over in sudden wind gusts and powerful waves Saturday off Guimaras and Iloilo provinces. Sixty-two other passengers and crew were rescued.
A third ferry, which was not carrying any passengers, also capsized in the Iloilo Strait but its five crewmen survived, Balilo said.
Information from the Joint Iloilo City-Guimaras Incident Command Post showed that two pumpboats, later identified as the MB Chi-Chi and the MB Kezziah, capsized at about 12:15 p.m.
The Chi-Chi was carrying 47 people, including four crew members, while the Keziah had only its crew on board.
The third boat, the MB Jenny Vince, sank around 3:30 p.m. with 38 people on board.
Of the 26 fatalities, 12 were from the Chi-Chi and the rest, including those still missing, were from the Jenny Vince. All those aboard the Kezziah were safely rescued.
Rescuers had to cut through the hull of the Jenny Vince to retrieve 10 bodies that were trapped inside, the coast guard said.
Following the incidents, boat trips between Iloilo and Guimaras have been suspended.
The navy has also been brought in to assist the search and rescue operation.
A Coast Guard team was also forced to rescue three people from an unmarked speedboat on Sunday, after it received a report that a vessel was half submerged due to rough seas between Sibulan and Liloan off the coast of Cebu.
Survivors recounted how the sky suddenly turned dark midway through their trip, followed by strong winds and rain that battered their ferries.
Authorities wondered why a third ferry was allowed to sail about three hours after two other ferries overturned almost at the same time at noon in bad weather.
Forecasters have warned of heavy monsoon rains, thunderstorms and rain-triggered landslides amid a tropical depression more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) off the country’s eastern coast.
Classes and work were suspended in metropolitan Manila on Friday and Saturday amid heavy rains and flooding, which caused intense traffic jams in low-lying areas of the capital.
About 20 typhoons and storms batter the Philippines each year, making the archipelago that lies on the Pacific typhoon and earthquake belt one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.
(With AP)
