Central Philippines News

A leaking fuel tanker that sank off the central Philippines three weeks ago has been found using an underwater robot from Japan, a provincial governor said on Tuesday, as authorities sought more foreign help to address the oil spill.The discovery of MT Princess Empress, which was carrying about 800,000 liters (211,338 gallons) of industrial fuel oil when it capsized on Feb. 28 and eventually sank, was deemed crucial in stopping the spill, which reached shorelines in three provinces.

Environment and disaster authorities in the Philippines rushed to contain an oil spill on Friday from a sunken fuel tanker that has reached coastal towns on a large central island, warning of dangers to marine ecosystems if more oil leaks. The tanker, MT Princess Empress, was still missing on Friday after sinking en route to Iloilo province carrying about 800,000 litres (211,338 gallons) of industrial fuel oil.The vessel encountered engine trouble on Tuesday due to overheating and drifted due to rough sea conditions, according to the coast guard.

He had a visa and just the job—six months of work at sea and thousands in pay to send home. Then the virus struck.And like millions of other migrant workers who leave the Philippines to work abroad and send their earnings back to a myriad of dependents, a whole family saw its lifeline cut.“I was broke. Things were not easy for me and my family. I badly needed to go back to work at that time so I was looking forward to that trip,” said sailor Carlos Salvador Jr.Salvador was all…

Australian shipbuilder Austal Ltd and U.S. private equity firm are considering a joint bid for a strategically located but debt-laden Philippine shipyard, the facility's trustee said on Wednesday.Hanjin Philippines, a unit of South Korea's Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co Ltd, in January defaulted on $1.3 billion in loans, of which $900 million is owed to South Korean banks and the rest to five Philippine lenders.Austal and Cerberus are interested in the distressed shipyard…

A pump boat carrying about 36 passengers  and five crew memberscapsized in Iloilo-Guimaras Strait  in central Philippines at around 4 p.m. on Sunday (October 18). According to the Philippine Coast Guard-Iloilo (PCG), the passenger motorboat with 41 people on board capsized in a storm, leaving seven dead and two others missing. "MB Tawash left Iloilo with 36 passengers and five crew members going to Guimaras when it was suddenly blown by strong winds in the middle of the sea causing it to capsize," says a statement from the Coast Guard. The incident was first responded by the Ocean Jet fast craft heading to Iloilo from Negros Occidental. Coast guard rescuers and passing vessels recovered 32 survivors. Among the dead were two boys aged 6 and 9 and two of the crew members.

Philippine authorities cancelled flights and urged residents and tourists to move to safer ground on Saturday as a powerful typhoon approached northeastern parts of the main island of Luzon. With winds of up to 160 kph (99 mph), typhoon Koppu is about 300 km (185 miles) east of Baler in Aurora province, moving west and due to make landfall in the next 12 to 18 hours. Disaster agency officials said about 300 hundred people living in vulnerable coastal or low-lying areas had already sought shelter due to the risk of floods, landslides and storm surges of up to 2 metres (6.5 ft). "We are asking 2,000 foreign and local tourists, most of them surfers, to abandon seaside resorts and go to safer areas," Gabriel Llave, a Baler municipal disaster official, told radio station dzMM.

Divers will search waters in the central Philippines on Friday for 15 people still missing after a ferry carrying 187 passengers and crew sank a day earlier, killing 38 people, the coast guard said. There were 134 survivors after the MBCA Kim-Nirvana, a motorised outrigger, capsized minutes after leaving the port of Ormoc City. The number on board was revised down on Friday after it was found two crew members did not board the ferry. Search and rescue operations continued through the night, with coast guard personnel reinforced by a Philippine navy ship and two air force planes. A formal marine casualty investigation into the cause of the sinking will begin on Friday, Philippine coast guard spokesman Armand Balilo told local radio.

MBCA Kim Nirvana, a passenger boat carrying 189 people has capsized in the central Philippines, minutes after leaving port, the Philippine Red Cross and coast guard spokesman Cmdr. Armand Balilo said. There were 173 passengers and 16 crew members on board, according to Philippine Red Cross Chairman Richard Gordon. At least 39 have died, he said, and 134 survived. Seventeen people remain unaccounted for, he said. Regional coast guard commander Capt. Pedro Tinampay told DZBB radio in Manila that rescuers were using a barge with a crane to move the overturned boat to its side to make it easier for divers to find more bodies. Another crane will be used to raise it upright, he said.

A ferry carrying 189 passengers and crew capsized off the central Philippines in heavy waves on Thursday, killing at least 36 people but the majority of those on board were rescued, the coast guard and police said. The MBCA Kim-Nirvana, a motorised outrigger with 173 passengers and 16 crew on board, capsized minutes after leaving the port of Ormoc. Coast guard spokesman Armand Balilo said 127 people survived, while 26 were still listed as missing. "Search and rescue operations are ongoing. Initially we learned that it was due to big waves," said Rey Gozon, director of the office of civil defence for the region. Scores, sometimes hundreds, of people die each year in ferry accidents in the Philippines, an archipelago of 7,100 islands with a notoriously poor record for maritime safety.

A powerful storm strengthened to a "super typhoon" on Sunday hours before it was set to slap the northeastern tip of the Philippines, prompting officials to warn of landslides and call on residents along the coast to evacuate to safer ground. Typhoon Noul is now a category five storm, packing winds of up to 185 kph (115 mph) near the centre, with gusts of up to 220 kph (137 mph), as it approaches the rice-producing province of Cagayan about 400 km (250 miles) north of the capital, Manila. It was moving faster at 20 kph as it neared the Philippines' northeastern coast, where it was expected to make landfall later on Sunday, and was estimated at 100 km east of Tuguegarao City in Cagayan province.

Indonesian rescuers searching for an AirAsia plane carrying 162 people pulled bodies and wreckage from the sea off the coast of Borneo on Tuesday, prompting relatives of those on board watching TV footage to break down in tears. Indonesia AirAsia's Flight QZ8501, an Airbus A320-200, lost contact with air traffic control early on Sunday during bad weather on a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore. The navy said 40 bodies had been recovered. The plane has yet to be found. "My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ8501," airline boss Tony Fernandes tweeted. "On behalf of AirAsia, my condolences to all.

A powerful typhoon roared into the eastern Philippines on Saturday, bringing lashing rain and strong winds that felled trees, ripped off tin roofs and toppled power lines in areas still bearing the scars of a super typhoon 13 months ago. About 1 million people had already fled to shelters by the time Typhoon Hagupit made landfall, in what a U.N. agency said was one of the world's biggest peacetime evacuations. As the storm barrelled in from the Pacific, power was cut across most of the central island of Samar and nearby Leyte province, including Tacloban City, considered ground zero of the devastating super typhoon Haiyan last year. "The wind is blowing so strongly, it's like it is whirling," Mabel Evardone, an official of the coastal town of Sulat in Eastern Samar, said on local radio.

Rammasun hits eastern Rapu-Rapu island, heads towards Manila; Strongest storm after last year's Haiyan. Thousands evacuated from coastal villages. Thousands of people in the Philippines fled from their homes on Tuesday as the strongest typhoon to hit the country this year made landfall, toppling trees and cutting power as it made its way straight towards the capital, Manila. Parts of the Philippines are still recovering from Typhoon Haiyan, one of the biggest cyclones known to have made landfall anywhere, which killed more than 6,100 people last year, many in tsunami-like sea surges, and left millions homeless. Typhoon Rammasun, with gusts of up to 160 kph (99 mph) and sustained winds of 130 kph (81 mph) near its centre…

The shipping industry has shown great resilience in battling through the recent economic downturn, according to InterManager President Gerardo Borromeo. But he urged caution following a recent jump in new build tanker orders, stating: “We live in interesting and challenging times”. In his New Year message to InterManager members, Mr. Borromeo said, “As we have seen, even when we think we see the light of day, there remains a specter of uncertainty. “In general though, we have managed through the most difficult parts of the economic crisis dating back to 2008…

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) announced another effort to assist those affected by the typhoon in the Philippines. MOL executives and employees have organized a charity donation program within the MOL Group of companies. The company has already made a $30,000 donation to emergency relief efforts and decided to provide free transport of relief supplies by containerships to the central Philippines devastated by the recent typhoon. The main portion of MOL’s donation will go to afflicted people on the island of Leyte, through its group seafarer manning company in Manila, Magsaysay MOL Marine, Inc. The company said it is planning other relief efforts as the situation unfolds.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) said the MOL Group will provide free transport of relief supplies by containerships to the central Philippines devastated by the recent typhoon. The company has already donated $30,000 to emergency relief efforts. Items covered: Grant aid supplies from contributors such as governmental institutions, municipalities, and government-approved aid organizations. However, some items such as dangerous articles, animals, and other regulated items may not be accepted. Please contact an MOL office or agent for details. Conditions of acceptance: Contacts of both consigners and consignees are clearly identified, and…

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL)’s president, Koichi Muto, announced plans to make a donation of $30,000 to aid afflicted people of Typhoon Haiyen, which devastated the central Philippines. The main portion of MOL’s donation will go to afflicted people on the island of Leyte, through its group company Magsaysay MOL Marine, Inc. The company is planning other relief efforts as the situation unfolds. MOL has built a deep relationship with the nation as many Filipino seafarers serve aboard MOL Group vessels, and established a maritime training center there. To assist afflicted people of Typhoon Fengshen in June 2008, which caused severe damage to the nation…

Supertyphoon Haiyan continues to move westward and inch closer to the Philippines, according to the state weather bureau. Traveling at a faster speed of 30 kph (from the previous 20 kph), the typhoon, according to the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), is forecast to make landfall in eastern Visayas on Friday. It would affect the Visayas and parts of Luzon and Mindanao. The typhoon was last observed 1,560 km east of Mindanao, packing maximum sustained winds of 120 km per hour and gusts of up to 150 km per hour. The typhoon will be locally named Yolanda when it enters the Philippine area of responsibility.

Rescuers continued their search for passengers of the Philippine ship MV Asia South Korea last week, after it sank in the Visayan Sea before dawn on Dec. 23, officials said. The death toll from the disaster in the central Philippines had risen to 41, they said. The National Disaster Coordinating Council said officials were still verifying the number of survivors, which was most recently reported to be 711. The 27-year-old ship, owned by Cebu-based Trans-Asia Shipping, sank in rough seas off Bantayan Island, 300 miles southeast of Manila, while on a 12-hour voyage from the central Philippine city of Cebu to the island of Iloilo. Survivors said they heard an explosion before the vessel went down in rough seas.…

Relatives of two passengers of a Philippine ferry who died with 4,000 others in the world's worst peacetime sea disaster have won claims for damages after almost 12 years of court battle. The Philippine Supreme Court, in a ruling on Tuesday, awarded $18,775 in damages to the relatives of school teacher Sebastian Canezal and his 11-year-old daughter who both drowned in the sinking of the inter-island ferry Dona Paz. The Dona Paz sank in December 1987 after a collision with the oil tanker MT Vector off Mindoro island in the central Philippines. Court records showed the Dona Paz was carrying an estimated 4,000 people. Only 24 people survived. Canezal's wife and mother sued the ferry owners, Sulpicio Lines, Inc, for damages.

At least 56 people, many of them children, drowned and scores are feared missing after an overcrowded boat capsized off Jolo island in the southern Philippines, officials said last Thursday. About 70 survived, many rescued by fishermen, while one man swam two miles to shore after the ML Annahada capsized on Wednesday night, the coastguard said. Twenty-seven children, aged from three months to nine years, were among the dead. The vessel, locally called a motor launch, was authorized to carry only cargo, and capsized after picking up passengers at sea, said coastguard operations officer Lieutenant Roy Echeverria. After it left Jolo, "several boats carrying people pursued it in the open sea and they boarded the launch, which was illegal and unauthorized," Echeverria said.