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Hello everyone, I'm quartz with garlic! Today I want to tell the story of a cruise ship turned into a sea oven and 4,000 people turned into coke!
On Christmas Eve 1987, the fishermen on Mindolok Island in the Philippines were anxious because they had been unable to catch fish for several days, but instead caught a shocking human corpse. The bodies were all passengers on the passenger ship Donapaz, who perished in a horrific shipwreck. The Donapaz, a passenger ship carrying thousands of passengers, collided with a tanker loaded with 104 billion tons of gasoline on its way from Leyte to Manila, causing a violent explosion and fire. Burning gasoline floated on the sea, enveloping passengers who wanted to escape. The disaster claimed more than 4,000 lives and became the darkest page in the history of world maritime.
The Donapaz is a 93.1-meter long, 13.6-meter-wide passenger ship weighing 2,215 tons, designed to accommodate 1,518 passengers. At about four o'clock in the morning on December 20, 1987, it set off from Leyte Island in the Philippines to prepare for the capital Manila. Since it was Christmas Eve and many migrant workers wanted to go home for the holidays, the route was unusually crowded. The Donapaz was packed with passengers, some who bought tickets before boarding, others who boarded first and then bought tickets. However, none of them imagined that this journey would be their end.
The number of passengers aboard the Donapaz far exceeded its design capacity, which was common in the Philippines at the time. Because the Philippines is a country of many islands, ferries are the main mode of transportation, so ferry tickets can be bought at any time, which can also allow more people to take the same boat, saving time and costs. But on that day, not only thousands of ordinary passengers on the Donapaz, but also about 1,000 uniformed officers, and 59 crew members, a total of more than 4,000 people crammed into the 93.1-meter-long, 13.6-meter-wide passenger ship. Some survivors recalled that when they boarded, they felt that the boat was a little unstable and clearly tilted to the side, and some joked that the boat was so full that it could not fit even an ant. Due to the large number of people, there was simply not enough food on board, some could only sleep in three or four people crammed into one bed, and some could only lie on deck for a long night, all hoping to get to Manila early.
It was a Christmas Eve night in 1987, and although the weather at sea was clear, the waves were strong. Among the passengers on the Donapaz was a man named Salvador, who was standing on the deck for convenience, when he suddenly noticed a ship in the distance heading in their direction. He thought it was just an ordinary ship, so he didn't care and continued to stand there. But it wasn't long before he noticed that the ship was getting closer, as if it was about to crash into theirs. Startled, Salvador hurried to the crew to report, but it was too late. Just around 11 p.m., the two boats slammed into each other.
The horror is that the ship is not an ordinary cruise ship, but a tanker called the Victor, which is carrying 104 billion tons of gasoline, diesel and kerosene from Batan Dong Island to Masbate. Its bow hit exactly to the left of the Donapaz, right where the engine room and main distribution board were located. The Donapaz was immediately de-energized, and then both ships were surrounded by flames and explosions. At this time, most of the passengers on the Donapaz had fallen asleep, and they were awakened by a loud noise, and they were terrified when they saw the tragic situation in front of them. They fled around in the dark, trying to hide from the fire and smoke.
The passengers on the Donapaz faced a life-and-death crisis, but they did not have any conditions to escape. The ship's suitcases were piled up with various exits, blocking their path. There were also no life jackets on board, and no crew to organize and guide them. Those passengers who ran to the lower deck were lost in the fire and could not find a way out. The already overloaded passenger ship now has more than 4,000 people running around inside, and there is almost no chance of getting out alive. In fact, only 26 people survived in the end, and the rest died in the disaster. At first, some passengers chose to jump into the sea, hoping to swim to shore.
But what they didn't know was that there was a thick layer of oil floating on the surface of the sea, which was gasoline, diesel and kerosene that leaked out after the explosion of the Victor. These oils can be ignited by fire at any time, turning the sea water into flames. They can only choose to swim out quickly or dive into the deep sea to escape, but both methods are difficult. The sea was scalded by oil and fire, and they suffered in the water. Soon, they were black corpses, floating on the surface of the sea. For passengers who later jumped into the sea, the bodies served as a warning that if they didn't stick with it, they would have the same end.
One of the survivors, Arudia, was woken up in his sleep by his father, Salvato, and jumped into the sea with him. He thought he would be able to escape, but he didn't expect that the sea water was also burned hot by oil and fire, and he felt like he was boiling soup, and he felt like he was boiling soup. He also had to dodge the charred corpses, which floated on the sea like black buoys. He can only rely on some floating suitcases to support himself, but he is almost unable to hold on, and even wants to give up his life. Fortunately, his father found him and continued swimming with him. They swam for about an hour before they were rescued by a passing boat.
The captain of the ship saw the fire in the distance and hurried over to save people. They used nets to pull survivors onto the boat and gave them first aid. Many had severe burns and their skin burned off. In the end, only 26 people survived, two of them the crew of the Victor and the rest were passengers of the Donapaz. And both ships sank to the bottom within a few hours. It's infuriating that the Coast Guard didn't know about it long after the accident and delayed a long time to start the search. What is the point of such a search and rescue?
More than 4,000 people were killed in the shipwreck, but only 108 bodies were found, all burned beyond recognition. Many of the bodies were washed up on nearby islands, with the fishermen of Mindolo Island being the most tragic, who often encountered mutilated bodies while fishing. In order to lay the dead to rest, the locals held religious ceremonies and buried them. Unfortunately, almost all of the crew on the Donapaz died, and there is little testimony about what happened that night. Only one survivor, Lusgado, said he heard the crew partying, drinking and singing, completely oblivious to the situation at sea.
The Philippine Coast Guard investigated and inferred based on this testimony. They believe that at the time of the accident, the crew of the Donapaz were not at their posts, but went to the recreation room to have fun. Even the captain is not on the bridge, but in the cabin watching a movie. Only one apprentice is on duty next to the monitor. When the two ships collided, the crew also lacked the ability and experience to direct passengers to escape. They also don't know where to put life jackets. The Donapaz was originally an old passenger ship that the Japanese built in 1963 and sold to an operator in the Philippines in 1975. It also had a fire on June 5, 1979, and although there were no casualties at the time, the hull was badly damaged and needed major repairs.
Later, the ship was re-unveiled and put into service under the name Donapaz. That is, in this accident, the Donapaz was a newly refurbished ship. As for the safety facilities, it can be said that there are almost none, first of all, the life jacket is locked in the cabinet, and in the event of an emergency, no one can get it at all, secondly, the radio license is fake and useless, and finally, even the crew of the Donapas is not only neglected, but also seriously lacks emergency handling capabilities.
The Victor cruise ship is also not much better than the Donapaz, and its radio license has expired. At the time of the incident, the two crew members were still sleeping. It is understood that both boats were moving slowly before the collision. The Donapaz was heading at 26 kilometers per hour, while the Victor was only eight kilometers per hour. There was a lot of space around them to avoid a collision, but they didn't react in time.
In 1999, the Philippine Supreme Court held responsibility for the accident on the Victor cruise ship, arguing that it had no qualified captain and no license and should not have operated. But the Donapaz cannot shirk responsibility either. The most obvious problem is overload, which is the main reason why accidents are so tragic. Regarding how many people are on board, the Donapaz officially says 1518 passengers and 59 crew members, in line with the maximum passenger capacity. But that's a hard figure to believe. Because everyone knows that it is customary to buy tickets on board, and during the Christmas season, tickets are illegally purchased on board at a lower price. In this way, selling more and selling less depends on the mood of the captain.
The death toll in this shipwreck is difficult to accurately calculate, because the number of passengers on the Donapaz far exceeds its authorized capacity. In order to make more money, they did not care about safety to let more people on board. And they also have a lot of non-compliant practices, such as letting some passengers who did not buy tickets buy tickets on board, or not counting children under the age of four who are under four years old for free tickets. So exactly how many people there are on board can only be estimated based on different sources. On 28 December 1987, the representative of Northern Samar Island, Laurdasa, said that there were at least 2,000 overloaded passengers on board the Donapaz, which he had calculated on the basis of lists provided by relatives and friends of missing persons. These lists are collected and collated by radio and television stations.
In February 1988, the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation also conducted an investigation, and they counted at least 3,099 passengers and 59 crew members on board based on the number of interviews with relatives, and the death toll was 3,134. In January 1999, a Presidential Task Force report based on court records and more than 4,100 settlement applications estimated a total of 4,342 passengers, minus 26 surviving passengers and an additional 58 crew members, resulting in 4,374 personnel, which is approximately three times the authorized passenger capacity. Together with the 11 victims of the Victor crew, the total number of victims of the shipwreck reached 4,385.
The shipwreck, which took place on Christmas Eve, plunged the Philippines into deep grief. Philippine President Clathon Aquino called it a national tragedy, and Time magazine called the sinking of the Donapaz the deadliest maritime disaster of the 20th century in peacetime. Three days after the accident, the company of the Donapaz announced that they had insured the ship for 25 million pesos and were willing to compensate each victim 20,000 pesos, equivalent to $620 in 2022. If you feel that the Titanic accident is already desperate, then the Donapaz accident may make you even more helpless.
Because this disaster was almost man-made, it was full of mistakes and negligence from start to finish. First, the ship lacked security, life jackets were locked in cabinets, and radio licenses were fake. Secondly, the crew was irresponsible, did not be on duty at their posts and did not direct passengers to escape. Again, tickets were oversold and the ship was packed with more than three times the authorized passenger capacity. Finally, the rescue effort was also not timely, and the Coast Guard began the search long after the accident. In short, this catastrophe was avoidable, but it happened for a variety of reasons. Some things seem accidental, but they are inevitable. Well, that's the end of this article. What do you think about this accident? Welcome to leave a message in the comment area. If you think the article is well written, please like it and retweet. I'm quartz with garlic, see you next time.