The two relatives of my wife, who are among the lucky survivors of this mishap, went back to Cebu this week to talk with the 2GO office again. And this time they were each paid 5.000 peso in compensation for lost luggage, as 2GO had promised. So apparently it was just a problem with communication within the company or with their ground staff in Cebu.

The official investigation is not yet finished. However it already seems pretty clear from witness testimonies from other captains passing by at the time of the collission, that the cargo ship was sailing in the wrong lane and also had not requested the assistance from a harbor pilot.

So whatever other factors might have contributed to the collission, its very difficult to see, how the investigation board can aviod getting to the conclusion, that this was mainly the fault of the Sulpicio Lines cargo ship.

SBMI recommends Cebu Port Authorit to implement requirement for vessels | Sun.Star

Condolences to those, who lost loved ones in the disaster, or are still searching for them.

 

For those hardened enough, I found this documentary about the Dona Paz mishap in 1988, which is widely regarded to be the most deadly maritime disaster ever in peace time:

Worse Than The Titanic: Documentary on the Dona Paz Ship Sinking Disaster in the Philippines - YouTube

History seems to repeat itself. Only this time 25 years later Sulpicio Lines owned the cargo ship and not the passenger ship. But after watching the documentary and witnessing the recent mishap in Cebu, one can`t help to ask, if captains of this company even keep an outlook on the bridge? Or if they just beleive, the ships will sail themselfes, because the ocean is empty?

A pinoy columnist has already suggested, that Sulpicio Lines should be entered in the Guinness book of records as the shipping company, which have most experience with maritime disasters. Seems fair enough to me.....

 

I was on Mindoro at that time of the "Dona Paz" incident, it happened on the Oriental side of Mindoro and I remember well that the people in a very large area did not consume fish (exempt dry fish that were dried previous to the accident) for a long time because they imagined that the fish fed on the death bodies, I heard a similar story this time....

 

I got a bit more information today, about what actually happened, when my wife and her two relatives went back to Cebu to visit the 2GO office there and ask for financial compensation for their lost luggage. There were some 2GO employés there, one of whom was a lawyer. They were told, that yes they could get 5.000 peso each in compensation, but they would have to wait for a few days for this to be processed. Which several other survivors waiting in the office has done already, paying for their own food and accomodation, while they waited.

My wife told the 2GO employes that she and her relatives were not from Cebu, but they would be happy to wait even for 1 month, if 2GO would pay for their hotel accomodation, which was only 1.350 peso pr. night, plus of course food and transportation between the office and the hotel. If 2GO was not willing to cover these expenses, then she kindly suggested, they just paid the money now. She could not really see, why it had to take several days. After all they only offered a lousy 5.000 peso, they did not offer 100.000 peso. So why did it have to take more than a few minutes, if they had already established, that her relatives were among the survivors of the mishap?

2GO then agreed to pay her relatives 5.000 peso right away, and my wife loudly suggested, that they offered the same gesture to those other 6-7 survivors waiting in the room, which had already been in Cebu for days waiting just only for that. 2GO then paid them also, and everybody were very happy, because finally they could get on their way. But of course they had to sign a waiver, that they released 2GO from any further responsibility or claims.

According to my wife some other survivers have already decided to sue 2GO, because the 5.000 is nowhere near enough to pay for the loss of their cellphones, laptops and other luggage, which they were bringing on the ship. However she adviced her relatives not to do that, because in their case the fees for the lawyer could easily surpass what extra amount of money, they might be able to get out of 2GO. So instead we decided to help them a bit with our own money.

"Its more fun in the Philippines"

But only if you are rich and have power.

 

Exactly, and they don't use ships at all, they have the money to fly...
I would really like to have the power to clean up this world of all it's problems but that dream usually means that you will die while trying, mostly killed by a paid murderer or a crazy lunatic...
...or by your own Government...