Читать книгу The Worst World Disasters of All Time - Kevin Baker - Страница 24

The Dona Paz passenger ferry – Image author: lindsaybridge

Date: December 20^th, 1987.

Location: Philippines.

Disaster Type: Collision.

Fatalities: 4300 deaths.

Resulting Damage: Passenger ferry and ship sunk.

This is the tragic story of a ferry that crashed into a ship carrying over eight thousand barrels of fuel and caused the deaths of more than four thousand people. They only had 1,568 passengers on the ship’s manifest, but they allowed for over-crowding because of the holiday season.

On December 20^th, 1987, just five days before Christmas, hundreds of people boarded the Doña Paz ferry that would take them from the island of Leyte, to Manila, the capital of the Philippines. This ship was authorized to carry a load of not more than 1,518 passengers, but on the day of the tragic accident, the survivors claim that there could have possibly been more than four thousand people on board. There were people sitting on the floor all over the deck, so it was very obvious that the amount of people aboard was higher than it should have been. The weight on the Doña Paz was such that it even tilted the vessel to one side.

When night time arrived and everyone was getting ready to sleep and continue their 24 hour journey to Manila, a ship called the Vector was heading toward the Doña Paz. People who survived the explosion remember hearing a strong thunder-like sound that came from the collision. There were no alarms or warnings at all and the oil tanker spilled a lot of fuel and kerosene into the Doña Paz in a matter of seconds. The Vector had crashed right into the engine room of the Dona Paz, destroying the main switchboards of the ship. This caused the Doña Paz to lose all electrical power and everything turned pitch black, except for the huge fire that had started to spread from the damaged side of the ferry.

Most of the people who tried to jump into the ocean did not know that the ship had crashed into a fuel carrier. The spill of all this fuel turned the ocean into a fiery trap instead of a way to survival. Many died on board due to suffocation, while others died in the ocean as they burned and drowned. The few people that managed to survive had to swim underwater until they could find their way out of the fire.

The Phillippine Coast Guard investigation revealed that only one member of the crew on the Dona Paz had been watching from the bridge; the captain along with the other officers were drinking alcohol and watching television. However, the authorities blamed the accident on The Vector fuel tanker as it was being used without a license, a lookout or trained crewmen.