By Roy Ramos & Hader Glang
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines
Philippine President Benigno Aquino III has ordered an investigation into a ferry accident that has left more than 40 people dead off the central port city of Ormoc.
A deputy presidential spokesperson told GMA News on Friday that the coast guard’s Maritime Casualty Investigation Team has already been “pursuing various avenues of inquiry, including possible overloading, capability of the captain and its officers, load capacity of the vessel, and others.”
Abigail Valte offered her condolences to the families of the victims and said, “we mourn with the families of those who lost their loved ones in the incident and assure them a speedy and objective investigation.”
Rescue teams have recovered 41 bodies after the MBCA Kim-Nirvana-B capsized Thursday, while at least 10 people remain missing, according to GMA.
The ferry had reportedly been carrying 173 passengers and 16 crew at the time of the accident, which an initial investigation suggested had been caused by human error.
Allan Lucero, a survivor whose aunt is among the dead, expressed relief that his daughter had decided not to join them on the voyage.
"She doesn't know how to swim,” he told the Philippine News Agency. “Had she agreed to go home with me, maybe she [would have been] one of the casualties.”
Mourning the loss of his aunt, Lucero blamed the accident on overloading, saying the ferry had been carrying more than 200 sacks of cement and rice.
Coast guard spokesperson Commander Armand Balilo, however, has said the vessel did not appear to have been overloaded.
Lucero also accused the crew of not providing passengers with life vests – a claim refuted by boat captain Warren Oliverio.
According to Oliverio, there had been more than 200 life vests on board, but the passengers chose not to wear them due to the heat.
