7 dead in El Nido sea tragedy

By Victoria Asuncion S. Mendoza

Friday 15th of June 2012

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan, June 15 (PIA) -- Seven passengers, including an eight-month old child, died after an inter-island ferry M/V Josille II sank off the vicinity of Pagauanen Point in El Nido, Palawan during the height of bad weather Tuesday night.

As of this writing, 56 survivors have already been accounted for, eight of whom were brought to the Taytay District Hospital. Search and rescue operation for four missing passengers is still on-going led by the Joint Task Force (JTF) Malampaya of the Western Command.

"In spite of the bad weather, there is no let up in the search and rescue operation for the four missing passengers by the JTF Malampaya and the other SAR members of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office,” said Lt. Col Neil Anthony Estrella, PIO of Western Command who was on board the Phil. Navy ship.

He said the Western Command is working closely with the El Nido Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council, which was mobilized yesterday along with other agencies and community volunteers particularly those in the coastal areas.

He lauded the local fishermen who helped in the rescue and recovery of the victims. He said that more volunteers are needed to bury the carcasses of carabaos that would be washed ashore.

The manifest of the ill-fated ship listed 34 passengers, but the actual number of survivors and the dead bodies do not tally with the manifest. There were also 65 carabaos on the ship.

M/V Josille II regularly plied the route Manila-Coron-El Nido-Liminangcong, Taytay, and vice-versa. It is owned by Atienza Shipping Lines. (LBR/VSM-PIA 4B, Palawan)