Lookback: Sea tragedies in the Philippines

By CNN Philippines Staff

Updated 16:21 PM PHT Fri, July 3, 2015

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — The sea mishap in Ormoc City, Leyte on Thursday
(July 2) that killed at least 40 people is the most fatal maritime disaster in the country
this year.
But there have been numerous tragedies in the Philippine waters involving passenger
vessels since the 1980s.
Below are a few of the maritime disasters in the country that have occurred over the
years:
 
Other tragedies:

June 2013: M/V Our Lady of Mt. Carmel sank off Masbate, killing 7 people.

June 12, 2012: A storm capsized a wooden-hulled ferry off the Coast of Palawan Island,
killing at least seven.

December 26, 2009: At least six people died and 44 went missing after ferry MV Baleno-
9 sank.

December 24, 2009: Four people died and 23 went missing after the wooden-hulled
Catalyn B with 73 people on board collided with a fishing vessel at the mouth of Manila
Bay.

September 2009: Nine people were killed after Superferry 9 tilts sharply and then sinks
near the southern city of Zamboanga.

May 2009: Wooden-hulled Commander 6, a small passenger boat, capsized at the Verde

Island Passage near Mindoro, leaving 12 dead.

December 2008: The ferry Maejan capsized off the northern Philippines, leaving 30
dead.

November 2008: Don Dexter Kathleen, a small wooden-hulled ferry, capsized in freak

winds off the central island of Masbate, leaving 42 dead.

August 2006: The MT Solar One, a cargo ship carrying two million liters of bunker fuel,
sank off the Guimaras Strait. An estimated 500,000 liters of fuel spilled into Guimaras’
waters in the worst oil spill in Philippine history.
February 2004: A bomb believed to have been planted by Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf
extremists explode aboard the Superferry 14 near Manila Bay, igniting an inferno that
kills 116 people in Southeast Asia’s second-worst terrorist attack.

April 2002: Wind-swept flames engulf a packed inter-island ferry in the central

Philippines, killing at least 23 and sparking panic among its 290 passengers and crew.
More than 90 are injured and 13 reported missing.
April 2000: The cargo vessel Anahanda, overloaded with passengers, sank off the
southern island of Jolo. About 100 of the estimated 150 people on board die.

December 1999: An overloaded MV Asia South Korea ferry sinks in the central
Philippines, killing at least 51 people including several Nepalese students. More than
700 others are rescued.

September 1998: The Princess of the Orient ferry capsized near Fortune Island in
Batangas and sank, killing 150 out of the 388 passengers.

August 15, 1997: The King Rogers, a sightseeing boat, sinks after being battered by
strong winds and big waves, killing four Hong Kong tourists and 12 Filipinos. 75 others
are reported missing.

February 1996: ML Gretchen I, an old wooden ferry, sank after being battered by strong
winds near Cadiz City.

December 1995: MV Kimelody Cristy caught fire and sank off Fortune Island in Nasugbu
Batangas, leaving 24 dead.

December 1994: A Singaporean freighter, MV Kota Suria, hit the ferry MV Cebu City in
Manila Bay, leaving about 140 dead.

April 1980: The MV Don Juan, a luxury liner bound to Bacolod City collided with an oil
tanker, MT Tacloban, off Tablas Strait in Mindoro, leaving 176 dead.