CEBU CITY.- Three Boholanos were confirmed missing and feared dead while scores others were believed to have suffered the same fate as the death toll in Cebu’s worst maritime disaster rose to 36 as of 3:00 o’clock yesterday afternoon. This developed as rescue operations hit fever pitch yesterday afternoon to retrieve 172 others who remain missing many of them believed to be Boholanos. An interview conducted by GMA 7 anchor Bobby Nalzaro yesterday morning confirmed that the three missing were from Bohol and they were on the way to Sibonga town in south Cebu as pilgrims of the miraculous shrine in that town. The possibility that many Boholanos were in that ill-fated ferry St. Thomas de Aquinas of 2Go Shipping Lines was hinted by Nalzaro in his interview with Fatima Calipana, one of the survivors of the sea mishap. The ferry vessel collided with the cargo vessel MV Sulpicio Express Siete off the seawaters of Lawis, Talisay City about 8:00 PM Friday. The place is about two kilometres from the Cebu port.

According to the interview, the Bohol-bound passengers were supposed to board another Sulpicio passenger vessel plying the Nasipit-Jagna route. It turned out that the Jagna-bound vessel suffered mechanical trouble forcing some Boholano passengers to take the Nasipit-Cebu trip aboard the St. Tomas of Aquinas. According to Fatima, they boarded the vessel from Nasipit along with her mother identified as Evelyn Core and grandmother Cresenciana Colisano, 72, who until press time were yet to be rescued. An unidentified infant who was seven months old and Fatima’s son was also missing. Coming from barangay Bayongbong, Pantukan in Compostela Valley, the four were on the way to S-Bullones when they decided to change course after the Jagna-bound boat was unavailable that time. They opted to go to Cebu and then to the Simala shrine in Sibonga, according to their itinerary which was aborted as a result of the head on collision. The collision proved to be fatal to the passenger ship which was loaded with 870 passengers and 118 crew members. The cargo vessel, with 18 crewmembers, only suffered damage in its prow while the ferry sank to the bottom of the sea. It was believed that many passengers were trapped inside the cabins of the vessel. The St. Tomas de Aquinas plied the Manila- Cebu-Nasipit run and vice versa. From Nasipit, it was supposed to dock at the Cebu port by 9:00 pm and then to its final destination in Manila.

RESCUE EFFORTS

As the report of the incident was relayed to authorities, the Philippine Coast Guard swung into action and mounted a rescue mission involving coast guard, navy, and local boats. "The Aquinas has sunk and we have sent a navy patrol gunboat to join the coast guard in the search and rescue effort," navy spokesman Lieutenant Commander Gregory Fabic told AFP. As of 2:00 pm yesterday, rescuers had saved 629 people but 36 people were confirmed killed, the PCG's public affairs office in Manila said. "Those rescued are with the coastguard and with other vessels who helped in the effort." The ship manifest indicated only 692 people on board, but ferries in the Philippines are often overcrowded. "We are still checking the manifest as to how many exactly are aboard," Villegas said Friday. Rachel Capuno, a security officer for the ferry's owners, told Cebu radio station DYSS that the ship was sailing into port when it collided head-on with the cargo ship. "The impact was very strong, "she said, adding that the ferry sank within 30 minutes of the collision.

Cebu coastguard commander Weniel Azcuna told reporters the accident occurred about two kilometers from the Cebu port. He said the cargo ship, Sulpicio Express 7, had 36 crew members on board, but it did not sink. Ferries are one of the main modes of transport across the archipelago of more than 7,100 islands, particularly for the millions of people too poor to fly. But sea accidents are common, with poor safety standards, lax enforcement, and overloading typically to blame. The world's deadliest peacetime maritime disaster occurred in the Tablas Strait, near Marinduque, in 1987 when a ferry laden with Christmas holidaymakers collided with a small oil tanker, killing more than 4,300 people. In 2008, a huge ferry capsized during a typhoon off the central island of Sibuyan, leaving almost 800 dead. – With reports from Voltaire Tupaz/Rappler.com