Why sea disasters continue

As I write this, rescuers are in a rush trying to save hundreds of people from a ferry ship that sank early Thursday in the central Philippines. The ship was filled to capacity with more than 600 people when it went down in rough seas as it plied between the bustling provinces of Cebu and Iloilo.

More than half of the people aboard have been saved several hours after the sinking, and Filipino navy, coast guard, air force and fishermen are running against time to prevent the Christmas of families and friends of 100 others in the ship from turning into a tragedy, according to wire reports.

Passenger and cargo traffic between Cebu and Iloilo, my home province, expectedly becomes heavy in Christmas and many travel on ferries that traverse the choppy seas in between because of limited air service and the cheaper ship fares. Many ferries usually are overloaded and a greater number of children and women travel by sea than on ordinary days.

It is a sad but not an unexpected occurrence in an archipelago that had witnessed some of the world’s most tragic sea disasters. Although it’s one of the backbone of Philippine inter-island transport, most ferries remain rickety and dangerous despite limited improvements brought by the gradual modernizing of fleets of several shipping companies in recent years.

The average 20 typhoons that hit the Philippines yearly also increase the perils of sea travel but accidents continue to happen mostly because of mechanical failures, fires, overloading, collisions and bad weather.

Maritime rules are often violated because of some corrupt personnel in the coast guard, navy and maritime agencies who overlook safety concerns and allow overloading and unsafe vessels to ply the seas.

In 1987, the world’s worst peacetime sea disaster occurred in the Philippines when an inter-island ferry, the Dona Paz, collided with an oil tanker off the resort island of Mindoro, south of Manila, killing at least 4,000 people.

That death toll is far greater than that of the celebrated Titanic, where about 1,500 people were killed.

In September last year, the Princess of the Orient, sank with more than 500 people aboard after it was allowed to sail in stormy weather. That tragedy left at least 150 people dead or missing.

It’s been a disaster-prone last year of the century for the Philippines.

A hillside housing estate just outside Metropolitan Manila collapsed earlier this year, destroying hundreds of houses and killing scores of people. Just this month, a helicopter and a domestic plane separately crashed in the main island of Luzon, collectively killing at least 25 people.

And still, people didn’t learn.