I think the ferry owner is far more liable than the coast guard is. The CG can't possibly check every single boat that sets out to sea. If the government regularly threw these ferry/boat owners and crew in prison for being grossly negligent the practice would stop. I really don't think it is reasonable to expect the coast guard to check every single boat going out to sea on the budget they are operating with. I would put more blame on the government for not supplying enough money, training and guidance to the CG. The government has set the coast guard up for failure, they provide the guidance but not the means to follow that guidance. It's a shame. I also don't think it is the government's job to make sure everything around us is safe and to tuck us in at night. Locals should be calling for the owner's head....but most locals just sit back and take it and say nothing (or ask the government to do something about it).
I skippered ferrys around Indonesia for a few years its not as easy as one may think, ticket sellers sell a lot more tickets that is a safe number , offen the manifest is not to be found so only by looking at the load line can you the weight you have on board. The other big factor is that you have a live load (people) they can move around if they all go to one side maybe to wave their last goodbye this move it can make a big diffrence , if many go aloft it can send the center of gravity up the mask real quick, finaly offen when you leave port you have to turn side on to the to set your course and you can cop a big wave broadside and it throws a lot of weight to the lee side . It happens so quick .
Sailed from Ormoc to Cebu two days before this 'accident'. But with Montenegro ro-ro Like stated, this was not a ferry but a big banca, a doubbledecker. They say banca tilted slighty on one side, people panicked, rushed on opposite side - and banca capsized. 200 meters off-shore and still so many casualties PNoy orders speedy, thorough probe on Ormoc sea tragedy | News | GMA News Online
Maybe not but it is the Job of the CG to see things are right and here you will see it is not just me that thinks so. As usual there is always things hidden away and now as it unfolds we can see more at fault than at first believed, Coast Guard might face raps for Ormoc boat tragedy | News | GMA News Online JP
CNN news here in the States are saying the crew members are also being held in jail. CNN reported that a American Male who survived the capsize, said he personally witnessed crewmembers working feverishly to pass out life vests and claimed he even saw the Captain swimming back to assist other passengers in the water. Basically this news item take-away is suggesting that perhaps the Captain and Crew ought not to be held in jail for negligence and that there may be other issues in play here that may currently be overlooked by the investigators. Wrong people in jail? Are the little fish taking the heat while the big fish get away? nwlivewire
Hopefully they arrest the ferry operators as well since they were the ones who lied on the passenger manifest and potentially overloaded the ferry in the first place. In the end they are the ones ultimately responsible for the loss of life.
Sky News Australia Manila charges crew, owners of sunk ferry Sky News Australia Philippine police have filed murder charges against the owner and crew of a passenger ferry that capsized and left 56 dead, an official says. The charges were filed late on Friday in the central city of Ormoc over the sinking of the Kim Nirvana ship ... Owner, crew of ferry charged with murderPhilippine Star Survivors won't go home again by sea; deaths hit 59Inquirer.net Murder complaints filed over capsized Philippine ferryToronto Sun GMA News -ABS CBN News -The Independent all 630 news articles » Continue reading... Seems the crew and owner are going to be held accountable.
Yes. CNN news did put out this info. And the question that immediately came up in my head while I was watching this report was,"Well, if this American man is being quoted by CNN, why was he not put on camera? Why did they not give his name or any other verifiable citations?" CNN news did not say, "A protected source said XXX", or words to that effect, so the way CNN news reported this "first hand account" seemed a bit off to me. I hope this tragic accident will be used to improve public transport safety on the waters. This seems like a senseless loss of life and sounds like this may have been an avoidable loss. V/R, nwlivewire
It would be unwise to put your name out there on a comment like that. Even more unwise to testify in court on the matter. I would have just told CNN that my name was "Joe". Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk