Miracle rescue in shark-infested Philippine waters-updates

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AFP) - – A woman who survived more than 24 hours in shark-infested waters off the southern Philippines after a ferry sank was hauled to safety Monday in what officials hailed a "miracle" rescue.

A specialist airforce rescue team found Lita Casunglon bobbing in the ocean off the Zamboanga peninsula, about 15 kilometres (nine miles) from where the Superferry 9 sank on Sunday morning in a tragedy that left nine people dead.

"She's very lucky she survived," regional navy commander Rear Admiral Alexander Pama told AFP, noting that the tropical waters of Zamboanga were notorious for being infested with sharks.

"While its not uncommon to hear of stories like this, I would definitely consider it a miracle, if I were her."

Pama said the airforce rescuers had jumped into the water to save Casunglon, and she was in a stable condition.

However he said he was still to receive the full circumstances surrounding her ordeal, such as whether she was wearing a flotation vest or had clung to anything.

The Superferry 9 officially had 968 people aboard, and an immediate rescue effort on Sunday after it began sinking saw most of the people safely ashore.

It was not all good news on Monday, with at least one person from the ferry still believed to be missing, officials said.

Coast guard chief Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo said vessels continued to scour the waters for any other survivors.

Two people had been listed on Monday morning as remaining missing and Tamayo said it was not yet clear whether Casunglon was one of those.

The number of missing dropped from 63, given by the coast guard on Sunday night to two, after authorities were able to gain a clearer picture of who was on board.

But Tamayo said he could not discount the possibility that there could have been more people aboard the vessel than officially registered on the manifest, meaning other passengers could still be missing.

While illegal, it is common practice among Philippine shipping companies to allow people aboard without listing them on the manifest.

Another concern Monday was that the ferry, now believed lying on the sea bed 18 kilometres off the coast at a depth of more than five kilometres, may spill thousands of litres of bunker fuel, the coast guard said.

And with no explanation yet over why the ferry tilted and sank, the highest authorities in the Philippines were demanding answers.

"Somebody must definitely be punished, whoever may be held liable for this mishap," presidential spokeswoman Lorelei Fajardo told reporters after an official inquiry was launched.

"We have to ensure that this will not happen again."

Questions have been raised over the sea-worthiness of the 23-year-old Japanese-built vessel, as it went down despite relatively calm weather.

Ferry travel is an extremely cheap and popular form of transport in the Philippines, an archipelago of over 7,100 islands, but it is also notoriously dangerous.

Old ships, overloading and badly trained crew members are often cited as causes of deadly sea accidents here.

In a separate rescue operation on Monday, the coast guard hauled to safety four South Korean sailors and 15 Filipinos from a life raft after their cargo vessel, the MV Hera, also sank.

The Panamanian-registered Hera began taking water late Sunday off Eastern Samar in the central Visayas region, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) from the ferry disaster, while it was making its way to China.

The crew members had been drifting for several hours in their life raft before they were rescued, Tamayo said.

hundreds rescued from Philippines ferry, five deads!

MANILA (AFP) - – Five people were killed and dozens were left missing after a ferry carrying nearly 1,000 passengers sank in darkness off the southern Philippines on Sunday, officials said.

In the latest tragedy to hit the Philippines' notoriously dangerous maritime transport industry, survivors reported mass panic as the Superferry 9 began tilting sharply well before dawn.

"They told us to stay calm but we could see no sign of rescue. Not for two hours," survivor Manuel Malicsi told radio station RMN.

Nine hundred people on board were rescued but five were confirmed killed and by late Sunday afternoon 63 passengers or crew members remained unaccounted for, the Philippine Coast Guard said in a statement.

"We are searching all possible areas (for the missing people)," coast guard chief Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo said in a radio interview.

"Navy ships (and) airforce aircraft are still scouring the area."

Tamayo offered hope for the relatives of those still missing, saying some may have drifted away in life rafts or been picked up by private boats that took part in the rescue.

Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro also said local officials were checking to see if any survivors had already reached shore.

The ferry issued a distress call around 3.30 am (1930 GMT Saturday), 11 kilometres (seven miles) off the coast of Zamboanga peninsula and some 19 hours into its journey from General Santos City.

Regional coastguard chief Commodore Rudy Isorena said the cause of the accident was not yet clear and the weather in the area had not been too bad.

"We cannot say yet as to the cause as the attention right now is being given to the search and rescue of passengers," he said.

However tropical storm Dujuan, off the Philippines' northeast coast, has heightened the seasonal southwest monsoon winds, bringing rough weather across the country, according to the weather bureau here.

Deadly ferry accidents are common in the Philippines, especially during the typhoon season.

Ferries, from large ones such as the Superferry 9 to small wooden dugouts with bamboo outriggers, form the backbone of mass transport in the archipelagic nation of 92 million people.

Aside from bad weather, poor maintenance, overcrowding of vessels and lax enforcement of regulations have also contributed to the disasters.

The coastguard report said the Superferry 9, a steel-hulled vessel made in Japan in 1986, had reported having 968 people on board, below its legal capacity of 1,120 passengers and crew.

Authorities and passengers said some people had jumped into the water in panic as the vessel began to tilt to the right, while others were able to get into life boats.

"The ship shifted suddenly and some people just panicked," Roger Sicharon, one of the passengers from the stricken vessel, earlier told DZMM radio by mobile phone as he waited to be transferred to another ship by life raft.

The coast guard said nearby fishing and other private boats, as well as those from the military, had all helped in the rescue operation.

The world's deadliest peacetime maritime disaster occurred south of Manila in 1987 when a ferry laden with Christmas holidaymakers collided with a small oil tanker, killing more than 4,000 people.

In June 2008, a huge ferry, "Princess of the Stars" capsized during a typhoon off the central island of Sibuyan, leaving almost 800 dead.

In the most recent major incident, 12 people were killed after a small ferry sank in rough waters south of Manila in May.