The MV Doña Paz was a Philippine-registered passenger ferry that sank after colliding with the oil tanker MT Vector on December 20, 1987. With an estimated death toll of 4,386 people and only 24 survivors, it was the deadliest peacetime maritime disaster in history.[1]
Doña Paz was traveling from Leyte island to the Philippine capital of Manila.[2] The vessel was seriously overcrowded, with at least 2000 passengers not listed on the manifest. In addition, it was claimed that the ship carried no radio and that the life-jackets were locked away. But official blame was directed at the MT Vector, which was found to be unseaworthy, and operating without a license, lookout or qualified master.
The Doña Paz was built in 1963 by Onomichi Zosen of Onomichi, Hiroshima, Japan, and was originally named Himeyuri Maru.[3] During the time it travelled the Japanese waters, it had a passenger capacity of 608 people.[4] In 1975, it was sold to Sulpicio Lines, a Filipino operator of a fleet of passenger ferries. It was renamed by Sulpicio Lines as the Don Sulpicio, and later, the Doña Paz
On 5 June 1979, while named the Don Sulpicio, the vessel was gutted by fire while en route from Manila to Cebu. All 1,164 on board were rescued but the vessel was beached and declared a constructive total loss. The wreck was repurchased from the underwriters by Sulpicio Lines, and the vessel was refurbished and returned to service as the Doña Paz.
At the time of its sinking, the Doña Paz was sailing the route of Manila → Tacloban → Catbalogan → Manila and vice versa, making trips twice a week.[5]
On December 20, 1987, at 06:30, Philippine Standard Time, the Doña Paz left from Tacloban City, Leyte, for the City of Manila,[5][6] with a stopover at Catbalogan City, Samar.[7] The vessel was due in Manila at 04:00 the following day, and it was reported that it last made radio contact at around 20:00.[6] However, subsequent reports indicated that the Doña Paz had no radio.[8][9] At around 22:30, Philippine Standard Time, the ferry was situated at Dumali Point, along the Tablas Strait, near Marinduque.[6] A survivor later said that the weather at sea that night was clear, but the sea was choppy.[7] While most of the passengers slept, the Doña Paz collided with MT Vector, an oil tanker en route from Bataan to Masbate. The Vector was carrying 8,800 US barrels (1,050,000 l; 280,000 US gal; 230,000 imp gal) of gasoline and other petroleum products owned by Caltex Philippines.[5]
Upon collision, the Vector's cargo ignited and caused a fire on the ship that spread onto the Doña Paz. Survivors recalled sensing the crash and an explosion, causing panic on the vessel.[6] One of them, a passenger named Paquito Osabel, recounted that the flames spread rapidly throughout the ship, and that the sea all around the ship itself was on fire.[6][7] Another survivor claimed that the lights onboard had gone out minutes after the collision, that there were no life vests to be found on the Doña Paz, and that all of the crewmen were running around in panic with the other passengers and that none of the crew gave any orders nor made any attempt to organize the passengers.[7] It was later said that the life jacket lockers had been locked.[9] The survivors were forced to jump off the ship and swim among charred bodies in flaming waters around the ship.[10] The Doña Paz sank within two hours of the collision, while the Vector sank within four hours.[9] Both ships sank in about 545 meters (1,788 ft) of water in the shark-infested Tablas Strait.[11]
It reportedly took eight hours before Philippine maritime authorities learned of the accident, and another eight hours to organise search-and-rescue operations
Only 26 survivors were retrieved from the water. Twenty-four of them were passengers from the Doña Paz while the other two were crewmen from the Vector's 13-man crew.[7][12] None of the crew of the Doña Paz survived. Most of the survivors sustained burns from jumping into the flaming waters.[6]
According to the initial announcement made by Sulpicio Lines, the official passenger manifest of the Doña Paz recorded 1,493 passengers and 59 crew members aboard.[4][10] According to Sulpicio Lines, the ferry was able to carry 1,424 passengers.[6] A revised manifest released on December 23, 1987, showed 1,583 passengers and 58 crew members on the Doña Paz, with 675 persons boarding the ferry in Tacloban City, and 908 coming on board in Catbalogan City.[11] However, an anonymous official of Sulpicio Lines told UPI that extra tickets were usually purchased illegally aboard the ship at a cheaper rate, and those passengers were not listed on the manifest.[4] The same official added that holders of complimentary tickets and non-paying children below the age of four were likewise not listed on the manifest.
