No new survivors; divers fail to find sunken ferry

MANILA, Philippines - Navy divers have failed to find the seven missing passengers of the ferry M/V Our Lady of Mt. Carmel that sank off Burias Island in Masbate Friday with 70 people on board.

Sixty-one of those on board have been rescued, 39 of them passengers and 22 crew members, officials said. The bodies of two fatalities have been recovered.

Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Gerald Fabic told reporters the seven missing could have been trapped inside the sunken vessel.

There’s a slim chance that they had drifted to nearby islands, Fabic said.

Of the seven missing, only three are listed in the ship’s manifest: Abegail Barredo, Noan Manocan and Leticia Andaya.

Four are not in the manifest: Fe Rapsing, Jonas Comidor, Arianne Comidor and Jocelyn Danao.

In a phone interview, Coast Guard spokesman Commander Armand Balilo told The STAR they have not yet received news of any new survivors from the Coast Guard and Navy search and rescuers teams at the scene.

“They (survivors) may have been carried by waves to the island (Burias),” he said.

Balilo said the last report from the field showed calm weather was allowing the continued search and rescue operations.

“It is hard to give an assessment at this point,” he said.

Fabic said hopes of finding the remaining missing passengers were fading fast as strong currents thwarted attempts to reach the seabed.

“They still have not (located) the ferry and they were not able to go too deep,” he said.

Fabic said divers from the Naval Special Operations Group and the Coast Guard were continuously scouring the area but without success as of yesterday.

“No new survivors were recovered so far,” he said.

Fabic said Navy and Coast Guard ships continue their patrols in case survivors had drifted to nearby coastal areas.

No deadline has been set for the rescue operations since the missing might still be alive, he added.

The Maritime Police in Masbate has deployed a motorized banca to help in the search.

Authorities are looking at the possibility that the ship capsized in Agua Point, some 11 nautical miles from Aroroy port.

The ship might have sunk in depths reaching 518 meters that professional divers may not be able to reach.

Local governments, fishermen and volunteers have joined in the search and rescue for the missing passengers.

As of press time, authorities had not received any report of the missing being found near the coastal areas.

The Navy has no equipment for divers to find the sunken vessel at a depth of about 1,000 feet.

Office of Civil Defense regional director Raffy Alejandro said the BRP Pampanga, which was supposed to join the Indonesian Navy in naval exercises, arrived at 3:17 p.m. Saturday at Burias Pass.

“The search and rescue operation immediately started as early as 9 a.m. Saturday and still continuing,” he said. Alejandro said the Navy has deployed two vessels and a plane; and the Coast Guard a motorized banca for the search and rescue.

Commodore Natalio Abinuman, Naval Forces Southern Luzon commander, has deployed a five-man team from the Naval Special Operation Unit on Saturday off Burias Pass.

Lt. Col. Johannis Leonardi Dimaano, Air Force Tactical Operations commander, has also deployed two helicopters with parachute jumpers for the aerial survey Friday at 3:30 p.m.

Ensign John Duruin, Navy deputy spokesperson in Bicol, said members of the Naval Special Operations Unit were able to go down to some 100 feet.

“The search was cancelled due to poor visibility,” he said. Duruin said the depth of the ocean floor where the vessel sank was about 1,000 feet.

“Our technical divers cannot go down to that depth,” he said. “They can only go as far as 330 feet.”

Duruin told The STAR in a text message the NAVSOU has no equipment for the conduct of that kind of search.

“Tomorrow it will be about 48 hours since they have been missing and we expect them to float toward the surface and will be carried by the current to the shorelines if they had not been trapped inside the vessel’s compartment,” he said.

 â€“With Celso Amo, Roel Pareño, Teddy Molina