Princess of the Orient
Princess of the Orient as Sunflower
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The Princess of the Orient was a Filipino ferry and belonged to the Sulpicio Lines ferry company .
history
The ship was launched on September 9, 1974 at the Japanese Shin Kurushima -Werft in Imabari from the stack . The ferry was one of five ships named Sanfurawaa ( Sun Flower ) that were launched between 1972 and 1974. The Sunflower 11 , designed as a car ferry, was the youngest, largest and most luxurious of the five ferries.
It was bought by the Nihon Kosoku ferry company for the shuttle service between Osaka ( Honshū ) and Kagoshima ( Kyūshū ). However, the construction costs of 6 billion yen exceeded the financial capabilities of the ferry company, so that it was sold back to the Kurishima shipyard in the same month and henceforth chartered by the ferry company. In November, the Kurushima shipyard collapsed and the Sunflower 11 was bought by the Nihon Enkai ferry company, which from then on also operated the route. When the ferry company changed its name to Blue Highway Line, it also changed the names of its ships. The Sunflower 11 became the Sunflower Satsuma , named after the Japanese peninsula .
In 1993 the ship was sold to the Philippine ferry company Sulpicio Lines. The ferry was and remained the largest ferry in the Philippines and the shipping company's flagship.
Downfall
The ship was caught in Typhoon Vicky on September 18, 1998 while sailing from Manila to Cebu . Due to the effects of wind and heavy waves, the ferry overturned around 12:55 p.m. near Fortune Island in the Philippine province of Batangas and sank. Of the 388 passengers, 150 were killed in the accident. Some passengers floated in the water for up to twelve hours before the rescue workers arrived.