Shipwreck Monday-MV Dona Paz And MT Vector

 

The Doña Paz

 

The Doña Paz was built in 1963 by Onomichi Zosen of Onomichi, Hiroshima, Japan. The Doña Paz was originally named Himeyuri Maru. During the time it plied Japanese waters, it had a passenger capacity of 608 people. 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.

M/T Vector, owned by Vector Shipping, Inc., at that time was on a charter voyage for Caltex Philippines, now Chevron.

On December 20, 1987, at 0630H, Philippine Standard Time, the Doña Paz disembarked from Tacloban City, Leyte, for the Philippine capital of Manila, with a stopover at Catbalogan City, Samar. The vessel was due in Manila at 0400 the following day, and it was reported that it last made radio contact at around 2000. However, subsequent reports indicated that the Doña Paz had no radio. At around 2230H, Philippine Standard Time, the ferry was situated at Dumali Point, along the Tablas Strait, near Marinduque. A survivor later said that the weather at sea that night was clear, but the sea was choppy. 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 barrels of gasoline and other petroleum products owned by Caltex Philippines.

Upon the 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.

One of them, a passenger named Paquito Osabel, recounted that the flames spread rapidly throughout the ship, and that the sea itself was on fire. Another survivor claimed that the lights onboard had gone out minutes after the collision, that there were no life vests on the Doña Paz, and that none of the crew was giving any orders. It was later said that the life jacket lockers had been locked. The survivors were forced to jump off the ship and swim among charred bodies. The Doña Paz sank within two hours of the collision, while the Vector sank within four hours. Both ships sank in about 545 meters of water in the shark-infested Tablas Strait.

It reportedly took eight hours before Philippine maritime authorities learned of the accident, and another eight hours to organize search and rescue operations.