Palace: Probe underway into Quezon ferry sinking

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang said Friday that an investigation is already underway into the sinking of an interisland ferry in waters off Quezon Province which killed at least five people as search operations continue.

The ferry was carrying more than 250 crew and passengers, many of whom traveling to get home by Christmas, when it was buffeted by ferocious winds and waves in waters between Quezon and Polilio Island on Thursday morning.

More than 240 passengers of MV Mercraft 3 were fished out of the sea, some with injuries, by rescue units from the Coast Guard, the Navy and by private ships and boats in the area. As of Thursday night, seven more passengers were missing.

Harry Roque, a spokesperson for President Rodrigo Duterte's office, said, "We are saddened by the unfortunate incident involving Mercraft 3, which capsized between Dinahican, Quezon and Polilio Island."

Roque also called on transport officials to be diligent in performing their duties as a huge influx of holiday travelers was expected this holiday season, the busiest among Filipinos as millions go home to their provinces to spend Christmas and New Year with them.

"Investigations have started to determine what caused this sea mishap even as we call on our transport officials to exercise due diligence in the performance of their duties especially with the expected huge influx of travellers to the provinces this holiday season," Roque said.

Cdr. Armand Balilo, a spokesman for the Coast Guard, said that they were still focused on search and rescue operations and could not yet ascertain the reason for the incident.

He however said that the weather could have played a factor in the sinking. He said that although no storm was affecting the region where the incident happened, the northeast monsoon was prevailing in the waters off the eastern seaboard.

"[W]e are not discounting the possibility that the weather may have been a factor in the incident although there are no storms or prohibition from sailing. We are not discounting it," he said on Thursday, adding that waves in the waters off Quezon are normally high at this time of the year.

Poe pushes creation of transportation safety board anew

Sen. Grace Poe, chair of the Senate panel on public services, meanwhile pushed for the creation of the National Transportation Safety Board to ensure better safety standards to prevent disasters from happening.

"As an investigative body composed of experts, the NTSB can conduct independent probes to piece together more reliable reports with recommendations to prevent future civil and public transportation mishaps," she said in a statement.

Sea travel is dangerous in many parts of the Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands, as many poorly-maintained ships are able to operate undetected by authorities, and standards are seldom observed. Past sea disasters have also been blamed on the weather as the country is regularly visited by storms.

The Philippines is the scene of the world's worst peacetime maritime disaster after MV Doña Paz sank off the coast of Mindoro in December 1987, killing more than 4,000 people, many of whom were burned in the waters.

In comparison, more than 1,500 people died when the Titanic sank in 1912.