2013. Philippines: Ferry with 700 People on Board Sinks After Collision with Ship

A ferry with nearly 700 people aboard sank near the central Philippine port of Cebu on Friday night after colliding with a cargo vessel, and a survivor said he saw bodies in the sea.

“It seems some were not able to get out. I pity the children. We saw dead bodies on the side, and some being rescued,” he said.
He said the ferry was entering the pier when the cargo vessel, which was on the way out, suddenly collided with the ship. He said he and other passengers jumped in front of the cargo vessel.
“One of the persons who jumped with us hit his head on metal. He is shaking and he is bloodied,” Agudong said.
He said the crew of the ferry distributed life jackets while the ship was slowly sinking.
He said the ferry came from Nasipit in Agusan del Sur province in the southern Philippines on a daylong journey.

2013 A New York passenger ferry has hit a dock during the Manhattan rush hour.

A New York passenger ferry has hit a dock during the Manhattan rush hour, injuring scores of people and tearing a hole in the vessel's bow.
Eleven people have been seriously injured, the Associated Press reports.
The Seastreak Wall Street ferry hit the mooring as it docked about 08:45 (13:45 GMT) after a trip from New Jersey.
The boat, which was carrying about 340 passengers and five crew members, was able to dock and witnesses say people rushed to disembark.
Of about 70 people hurt, two were in a critical condition, New York City Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan told reporters.
'Like a bomb'
She said the boat had struck the dock at about 10-12 knots (11.5mph - 13.8mph; 18.5km/h - 22.2km/h).
AdvertisementThe BBC's Barbara Plett says passengers had no warning ahead of the crash
Passengers who had been standing, waiting to disembark, were hurled to the deck or launched into walls as the Seastreak hit the dock.
"We just tumbled on top of each other," Ellen Foran of Neptune City, New Jersey told the AP news agency. "I got thrown into everybody else. People were hysterical, crying."
The most seriously injured passenger suffered a severe head wound by falling down a stairwell.
The BBC's Barbara Plett says Pier 11 in Lower Manhattan has not closed as a result of the collision, avoiding a major disruption to water traffic.
A woman who witnessed the crash from the dock told CBS News the 140ft (43m) vessel did not appear to have been coming in at high speed, but said "it was a very hard hit".
"It had pulled in - starting to pull in - and what it did was it hit the right side of the boat on the dock hard, like a bomb," Dee Wertz told the network.
In a statement, the ferry company said it would work with investigators to determine the cause of the accident.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with those that were injured," the firm said.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has visited the scene of the crash, along with senior police, fire and emergency management officials. Police said the boat's crew passed alcohol breath tests given after the crash.
The cause of the accident was under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The ferry, built in 2003, had recently undergone a major overhaul that gave it new engines and a new propulsion system, but officials said it was too soon to tell whether the upgrades had played any role in the crash.Manhattan, an island, is served by several commuter ferry lines, the largest of which brings passengers from the Staten Island borough.
In 2003, 11 people were killed and dozens injured when a Staten Island ferry boat crashed into a pier on Staten Island, across New York Harbor from Manhattan. Dozens more were injured in a Staten Island ferry crash in 2010.

Source : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20962553

2012 Zanzibar ferry capsizes, killing dozens, 140 dead

(CNN) -- Rescuers were scheduled to resume their search Friday morning for survivors of a ferry that sank off the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar, killing 60 people and leaving more than 80 people unaccounted for, the Red Cross said.

As night fell Thursday, crews halted their search until the next morning, the Red Cross said.
The vessel with about 290 people aboard -- including 31 children -- capsized near Zanzibar on Wednesday, according to a spokesman for the agency's office in Tanzania.
About 145 people have been found alive, and rescue operations are ongoing, said Raymond Kanyambo, a spokesman for the agency.
Authorities intensified efforts Thursday by using army helicopters, government troops and boats.
Strong winds and rough waves, which officials blame for the capsizing, complicated ongoing rescue efforts, he said.
Ferries in the region often carry passengers not included in the manifest, making it hard to pinpoint the exact number of people aboard.
The ferry was traveling between the Tanzanian commercial capital of Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar, the Indian Ocean archipelago popular with tourists for its pristine sandy beaches.
Bangladesh ferry death toll rises to more than 100
Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania.
The capsizing Wednesday is the latest such disaster in the popular tourist destination of Zanzibar in less than a year.
More than 200 people perished when a crowded ferry traveling between two islands of Zanzibar sank in September. In that incident, the ferry had a capacity of about 600 passengers, but was carrying more than 1,000 people, officials said at the time.
Tanzanian authorities charged five men with negligence in the September capsizing, including the owner of the ferry and the captain.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/19/world/africa/tanzania-zanzibar-ferry-sinks/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

2012 Ferry Shariatpur-1 capsizes in Bangladesh, 32 + dead

Dhaka, Bangladesh (CNN) -- Rescuers searched frantically for survivors after a packed ferry carrying at least 250 people capsized in southern Bangladesh, killing at least 32 people, police said Tuesday.
The MV Shariatpur-1 sank in the Meghna River after colliding with a cargo ferry early Tuesday while passengers slept, a survivor said.
"We were seven in a cabin in the ferry, and six of my family members are still missing," Mohammad Dulal Dewan told CNN.
"Everything happened before I could understand anything."
The 55-year-old survivor said he "jumped into the river and was rescued by people in another passing ferry."
Dewan and his family were traveling to Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital, to see his brother-in-law off to the United States. Shamim Fakir was scheduled to fly on his U.S. trip early Wednesday, Dewan said. He was still missing Tuesday evening.
Mohammad Azizul Alam, the administrative chief of Munshiganj district, said officials had received a list of 61 missing people from families and the death toll might increase.
"We believe many bodies are still trapped inside the sunken ferry, and the rescue operation is still on," Shahabuddin Khan, police chief of Munshiganj, told CNN.
Khan said divers from the Bangladesh navy and the Fire Service and Civil Defence took part in the operation in addition to police and the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority.
The water authority's chairman, Khandker Shamsuddoha Khandaker, told reporters the ferry had been traced 70 feet (more than 20 meters) under water.
About 30 people were initially rescued after the ferry collided with the cargo boat on the river in Munshiganj district, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Dhaka. The ferry was traveling to the nation's capital from Shariatpur district.
Ferry accidents are common on Bangladesh's vast river network. Hundreds of people die in such accidents every year as the operators often ignore rules. Nearly 4,000 people are estimated to have lost their lives in ferry accidents since 1977.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/13/world/asia/bangladesh-ferry-sinking/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

2009, Superferry 9,Phillipines, 5 dead, 60 missing

SuperFerry 9, 5 dead,60 missing 900 people rescued as ferry sinks in southern Philippines


A woman and a girl passenger of the sunken "Superferry 9" arrive at the southern port city of Zamboanga, Philippines. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)
MANILA, Philippines - At least five people drowned and 900 terrified passengers, many roused from their sleep, were rescued early Sunday from a ferry that listed then sank in the southern Philippines, officials said. More than 60 people were missing.

Coast guard chief Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo said 900 of 968 passengers and crewmen on board the Superferry 9 were transferred to two nearby commercial ships, a navy gunboat and a fishing boat hours after the ferry began to list off Zamboanga del Norte province before dawn. Canadian, Jeff Predchuz, 47, is among the rescued.

A search was under way for more than 60 people who remained missing, Tamayo said, adding that they may have drifted with their life jackets or have been rescued but were not yet listed as survivors.

"We really hope they're just unaccounted for due to the confusion," Tamayo told The Associated Press.

Map - See where the ferry sank

Navy ships were deployed and three military aircraft scoured the seas, Defence Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said. American troops providing counterterrorism training to Philippine soldiers in the region deployed a civilian helicopter and five boats, some carrying paramedics, to help, U.S. Col. William Coultrup said.

Teodoro said two men and a child drowned during the scramble to escape the ship. The bodies of two other passengers were later plucked from the sea by fishermen, the coast guard said, adding that three passengers were injured.

The cause of the listing was not clear. The ferry skipper initially ordered everyone on board to abandon the ship as a precautionary step, said Jess Supan, vice-president of Aboitiz Transport System, which owns the steel-hulled ferry.

There were reports that the ferry listed to the right due to a hole in the hull, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said. As the 7,268-ton ferry tilted, some passengers may have panicked and jumped into the water, the coast guard said.

Passenger Roger Cinciron told DZMM radio by cellphone that he felt the ferry was tilting around midnight but he was assured by a crewman that everything was well. About two hours later, he was roused from sleep by the sound of crashing cargo below his cabin, he said.

"People began to panic because the ship was really tilting," he said as he waited for rescuers to save him and a group of more than 20 other passengers.

The ferry left the southern port city of General Santos on Saturday and was scheduled to arrive in Iloilo city in the central Philippines later Sunday but ran into problems midway and began to list about nine miles (15 kilometres) from the nearest shore, Tamayo said.

There were no signs of possible terrorism, Tamayo said.

Al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf militants bombed another Superferry in Manila Bay in 2004, setting off an inferno that killed 116 people in Southeast Asia's second-worst terrorist attack.

The weather was generally fair in the Zamboanga peninsula region, about 530 miles (860 kilometres) south of Manila, although a tropical storm was battering the country's mountainous north, the coast guard said.

Sea accidents are common in the Philippine archipelago because of tropical storms, badly maintained boats and weak enforcement of safety regulations.

Last year, a ferry overturned after sailing toward a powerful typhoon in the central Philippines, killing more than 800 people on board.

In December 1987, the ferry Dona Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker in the Philippines, killing more than 4,341 people in the world's worst peacetime maritime disaster.

Sinking of m/v Bulgaria. 122 dead.

Sinking On 10 July 2011, Bulgaria was traveling in Tatarstan on the Volga River when she was caught in a storm and sank in several minutes at about 13:58 Moscow time (09:58 UTC), several hours after beginning her cruise.

Survivors say that during the cruise, Bulgaria encountered stormy weather, and listed sharply to starboard. This was apparently compounded by the captain trying to turn the boat around, and soon water rushed into the vessel through portholes that had been opened because the ship had no air conditioning. According to a survivor, the sinking came without warning, and the vessel "listed to starboard ... and capsized and sank."The boat sank within minutes, plunging nearly 20 metres (66 ft) to the river bed. The sinking occurred about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from shore, in the Kamsko-Ustyinsky District.
Casualties

As of 25 July 2011, the officially confirmed death toll is at 122, with all bodies found so far identified.On 11 July 2011, a government official from the Ministry of Emergency Situations said that the likelihood of finding additional survivors was slim, leaving a presumed total of up to 129 dead. Among the dead were believed to be at least 50 children. On 12 July 2011, the divers recovered bodies of Bulgaria's captain Alexander Ostrovsky and his spouse.
Seventy-nine people (56 passengers and 23 crew members) were reported to have survived the sinking. Of those, 76 were rescued by the cruise ship Arabella, a few others were saved by other boats, and one survivor managed to swim to the shore. At the time of the incident, Bulgaria passenger's count is estimated to have been at 201, though she was only rated to carry 120.

Passed ship

According to survivors' accounts, two ships (the oil tanker Volgoneft-104 [other sources claim it could have been the Volgoneft-38 and the freighter Arbat) passed by after the Bulgaria had sunk. The passing ships did not stop to help and the ICRF has launched an official investigation into these claims. In accordance with Russian criminal code, article 270, the captain of a ship that refuses to help in disaster could be sentenced to up to two years of deprivation of freedom. However it may also be that these ships, being heavy freight barges with minimal crews, were not technically capable of stopping while passing or of turning back in acceptable time. The barge owners refused to comment.The technical reasons may not be sufficient to justify the refusal, as the article 270 of the Russian criminal code allows the only reason to refuse help when it could endanger a ship or its crew or passengers. Assistance from the towboat Dunaisky 66 with two barges that appeared later after accident, was refused by Arabella's captain assuming that the towboat would not have provided useful help and would only hinder the rescue. Both Volgoneft-104and Volgoneft-38 are equipped with life boats and while coordinates are not precisely tracked they were approximately in the region of the accident. Investigators did not charge captains of any oil tankers in relation to the Bulgaria disaster as of 15 July 2011; the only captains charged with failure to save are captains of Arbat (Yuri Tuchin) and Dunaisky 66 (Alexander Egorov).These two ships seem also equipped with life boats. On 28 February 2012, Alexander Egorov was found guilty by court. However, the court imposed only a relatively minor penalty of 190,000 RUB (less than 4,900 EUR). Egorov pleaded not guilty claiming that entering the disaster area while towing barges would have hindered the rescue operation. He is considering filing an appeal.

Cause

On 11 July, an anonymous source close to the committee investigating the sinking said that the likely cause was portholes that were opened because of the lack of air conditioning on the vessel, which allowed water to enter Bulgaria when the captain attempted to turn the ship during stormy weather.

Evidence suggested that a number of safety violations could have caused or compounded the disaster. According to one survivor, emergency exit doors on the boat had been sealed or locked shut. Investigators also suggested that the boat set sail with a list to the right, possibly due to full sewage or fuel tanks on that side, and with one of its engines not properly functioning. Some survivors told Russian news agencies that they begged the captain to turn round because of the list, but were ignored. There were conflicting reports about whether the boat and the cruise operator were properly licensed for passenger cruises.One of the diesels was not in operation when Bulgaria last set sail, which, according to investigators, is a serious violation of passenger boats regulations. Survivors from the crew claimed that Bulgaria had lost electric power minutes before she sank, which effectively disabled ship controls, and prevented the crew from making a distress call over radio. For some unknown reason the emergency power did not come in. It was not until Arabella picked up first survivors that authorities found out the name of the vessel and the true scale of the disaster.

While the ship was not licensed to carry the number of passengers that were on board, it likely was not technically overloaded as in the past has been tested with as much as 2000 passengers

Russia’s Investigative Committee has found out what may have caused the “Bulgaria” cruise ship to sink, killing 122 people.

The list of possible reasons is topped by engine failure, troubles with its radio warning system, a lack of life-saving equipment and an overload of passengers – 201 people were onboard instead of 156.

The exact cause of the tragedy will be revealed after a full engineering and technical examination is completed. As of now, it is believed that the “Bulgaria” sank because of technical troubles.

“Now the investigators have to find who is to blame for the tragedy and understand which actions of the crew, of the cruise ship’s owners and of the officials responsible for the cruise ship’s check-up caused the sinking,” said the official spokesperson for the committee, Vladimir Markin.

The “Bulgaria” sank during a pleasure cruise on the Volga River. Of 201 people onboard, 122 died when the ship went down in a matter of minutes. There were 28 children, 72 women and 22 men among the victims.

A criminal case was launched against the captains of two freighters that failed to take part in the rescue of people from the “Bulgaria” on June 10, the day she sank.

“Even though both suspects deny any wrongdoing, the body of evidence collected by the investigation, including passenger and crew-member reports and the logs of the vessels ‘Dunaysky 66’ and ‘Arbat,’ confirm their guilt,” stated Markin.

The captains of both ships are suspected of abandoning a ship in distress. Two other people have already been charged with criminal negligence in connection with the incident.

A check-up on cruise ships following the Volga River tragedy found out that 90 percent fail to meet basic safety requirements. The most common violations are missing or faulty life-jackets and no flares in the lifeboats.

After a thorough check-up, 23 vessels were banned from operating as passenger ships, and prosecutors initiated 66 administrative cases against boat owners. More checks will be carried out in other regions.