MANILA, Philippines - Eleven days after the authorities began their search, rescue and retrieval operations for the passengers and crew of the sunken M/V St. Thomas Aquinas, it was only over the weekend when they realized that there was an error in the number of reported casualties.
Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Commander Armand Balilo clarified last Saturday’s figure of 81 bodies recovered, 39 missing and 750 survivors was not accurate.
Balilo said that over the weekend, the PCG, Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) and the local government in Talisay, Cebu reviewed and reconciled their figures.
It was at this juncture that they saw the “double entries†in the list of survivors.
Balilo clarified the total number of passengers and crew onboard Aquinas remains at 870.
However, the number of survivors went down to 733 and this resulted in an increase in the number of missing to 50.
Balilo said the PCG divers retrieved three more bodies yesterday afternoon, increasing the casualty count to 84.
Out of the 733 survivors, 629 were passengers and 104 were crewmembers; three passengers were unaccounted for or still need to be verified if they were really on board.
The 50 missing comprise 43 passengers and seven crewmembers; and the 81 fatalities include 76 passengers and five crewmen.
“We reconciled the figures and there was an adjustment made. Over the weekend we, the PDRRMC and the local government units validated the figures and it was discovered that the previous figure of 750 rescued people was really 733,†Balilo said.
He explained there were double entries because relatives who were monitoring the rescue operations would list down the names once their kin was rescued. At the same time, those who were conducting the rescue would also write down the same name.
Personnel from the local government of Talisay, Cebu reportedly handled the recording of rescued personnel.
Also it was only yesterday morning, and not last Saturday, when the 81st fatality was found.
At around 11 a.m. yesterday, the divers found the body of an adult male from the site and brought the body to the Talisay fishport.
The divers have already combed through 60 percent of the sunken vessel.
“What they hope to reach is that side of the ship that has touched bottom. It is where the tourist cabins are located and it is believed that there might still be bodies in that area,†Balilo said.
However, recovery of these bodies is not that easy.
“It would be difficult because there is a lot of debris. The cabins and beds fell down and the bodies might have been pinned beneath them. The problem is how to get those bodies out and how to check the spaces because in order to remove the bodies you need to take out the debris first,†he said.
Navy lieutenant Jim Alagao said the search teams with the support of other divers from the PCG and the Philippine National Police are not giving up.
“The technical divers have not entered and searched all the passenger cabins. It’s very dark inside and the current is very strong. They can only spend a little time down there,†Alagao said.
On Aug. 16, the roll on, roll off (RoRo) passenger ship 11,405 gross ton M/V St. Thomas Aquinas collided with cargo ship M/V Sulpicio Express 7 along the narrow strait of Lawis Ledge near Talisay, Cebu.
The passenger ship came from Butuan and was headed to Cebu while the cargo ship was leaving Cebu bound for Davao when the incident happened at 8:45 p.m. The passenger ship sank about 30 minutes later.
Members of the Special Board of Marine Inquiry (SBMI) investigating the incident visited the site yesterday for ocular inspection.
SBMI chairman Coast Guard Commodore Gilbert Rueras said they wanted to see the site for themselves to get a clear picture of what happened.
He said they wanted to gather more information and eliminate “extraneous information†that was given during the first days of the proceedings. – With Jaime Laude, AJ de la Torre/The Freeman