St. Thomas of Aquinas
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The St. Thomas of Aquinas , also St. Thomas Aquinas , was a Filipino RoPax cargo and passenger ferry that sank near Cebu on August 16, 2013 after a collision with a general cargo ship . Over 90 passengers and crew were killed and a larger number of people have been missing since then.
history
The ferry was commissioned by the ferry company Meimon Car Ferry KK from Kitakyushu at the Onomichi Dockyard in Onomichi, Japan . The ship with the hull number 239 was delivered in 1972 and started sailing in 1973 as Ferry Sumiyoshi . After the ship was later operated under the same name by KK Meimon Taiyo Ferry , the latter sold it in the early 1990s to the Filipino shipping company Aboitiz, which used it in the Filipino island service. Since 2003 the ferry, which has changed its name several times, has been used by the 2Go group and was finally transferred to this Chinese-controlled company in 2012 and renamed St. Thomas of Aquinas (after the medieval philosopher Thomas von Aquinas ). About a month after the takeover, on September 16, 2012, the ship had to make an emergency anchoring shortly before the landing stage in Iloilo due to an engine failure. The 561 passengers on the ferry had to be brought ashore with a port tug. The following December, the ship completed up to 31 December 2017 valid large class renewal of the classification society American Bureau of Shipping .
Collision with the Sulpicio Express site
On the evening of August 16, 2013, the St. Thomas of Aquinas was on a journey from Nasipit through the Camotes Sea and the Olango Canal to Cebu City . When entering the port at around 9 p.m., the ferry collided with the Sulpicio Express Siete cargo ship of the Philippine Span Asia Carrier (formerly Sulpicio Lines) from Manila, which was built in Poland in 1981 and was on its way from Cebu to Manila. The ferry suffered a major water ingress and then sank within a short time about two kilometers from Talisay in the water about 33 meters deep at the site of the accident. Immediately after the collision, the master of the St. Thomas of Aquinas gave the signal to leave the ship, but panic broke out on board. When the ferry sank, crew members handed out life jackets and many passengers jumped into the water. Several ships in the area, including the Sulpicio Express Siete , which was badly damaged in the fore section but floatable, and several fishing boats, picked up many of the castaways floating in the water , and a number of people swam to the relatively close shore. Rescue operations that followed, which included divers investigating the sunken ship, were hampered by a tropical depression that brought bad weather and oil spills.
According to the crew and passenger lists, there were 754 passengers and 116 crew members, a total of 908 people, on board the ferry, of whom 31 were reported dead and 172 as still missing on the day after the collision. On August 29, the death toll had risen to 91 and the number missing had decreased to 46.
Consequences and investigation
The Philippine Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) initially banned the shipping companies 2GO Group and Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corporation from continuing to operate their fleets due to the collision.
The investigation, which began on August 23, 2013, identified various possible reasons for the collision. The Sulpicio Express Siete drove in the fairway intended for incoming traffic against the prescribed direction of travel. The St. Thomas of Aquinas , arriving at a speed of around 15 knots , could not reduce its speed in time and also changed its course to port instead of starboard before the collision. Both vessels changed their course one more time before the collision, the Sulpicio Express Siete to port and the St. Thomas of Aquinas to starboard.
technology
The RoRo vehicle and passenger ferry had a total of five decks and a continuous structure. The two roller decks could be loaded and unloaded via the bow and stern ramps. The propulsion of the ship consisted of two Mitsubishi MAN fourteen- cylinder four - stroke diesel engines of the type V14V40 / 54 with an output of 5669.6 kW each , which acted on two propellers and gave the ship a maximum speed of around 19 knots . The energy supply on board was provided by three generators , each with an output of 570 kW.
Under Japanese ship management, the passenger capacity was set to a maximum of 900 people, in the Philippine island service up to 1010 passengers were allowed.
Web links
- Philippines: More than a hundred people missing after the ferry crash. In Der Spiegel , August 17, 2013
- Bullit Marquez: Philippines Ferry Crash: MV Thomas Aquinas, Ship Carrying 700 Passengers, Collides With Cargo Vessel. ( Memento of October 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) In: Huffington Post , August 17, 2013 (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Tim Schwabedissen: Philippine ferry evacuated after emergency anchorage , European Sailing Information System, September 17, 2012.
- ↑ Classification data , American Bureau of Shipping (English).
- ↑ a b SitRep 12 re Collision between M / V Sulpicio Express 7 & M / V St. Thomas Aquinas 1 ( Memento from November 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council , August 29, 2013 (English) .
- ↑ Roel Catoto: UPDATED: 31 dead, 172 still missing as 2 ships collide off Cebu , Minda News, August 17, 2013.
- ↑ Marina suspends fleet of shipping firms in Cebu sea mishap ( Memento from August 20, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), Sun.Star, August 17, 2013 (English).
- ↑ Cargo ship in Cebu maritime tragedy in the wrong lane - TransAsia captain , Maritime Connector , August 26, 2013 (English).