Pat Dollard | Young Americans

PHILIPPINES - President Gloria Arroyo yesterday demanded to know why a ferry carrying more than 700 people was allowed to set sail as a typhoon bore down on her country.

Speaking to civil defence and coast guard authorities, Ms Arroyo said she wanted answers about the ferry, which sank yesterday after being battered by huge waves caused by Typhoon Fengshen.

The typhoon lashed The Philippines for a second day yesterday, leaving at least 80 people dead as it submerged entire communities and capsized the ferry carrying more than 740 passengers and crew.

Receiving a briefing about the ferry accident while she was travelling in the US, Ms Arroyo said she wanted to know from the relevant authorities why the ship was allowed to depart Manila on Friday when it was known the typhoon was about to hit.

“Why did you allow it to sail and why was there no ample warning?” she asked during the meeting, which was broadcast live on nationwide radio.

“I want answers,” she said.

The death toll included 59 people who drowned in the central province of Iloilo. A further 40 were missing, Governor Neil Tupaz said.

“Almost all the towns are covered by water. It’s like an ocean,” Mr Tupaz said, adding that thousands had been displaced in the province, which is home to 1.7million people.

Villagers found four bodies, children’s slippers and life jackets that washed ashore yesterday near the stranded MV Princess of Stars.

Port captain Nestor Ponteres said the ferry’s owner, Sulpicio Lines, had lost radio contact with the ship and the fate of its passengers was unknown.

The dead, including a man and a woman who bound themselves together, were believed to have been on the vessel, which initially ran aground a few kilometres off central Sibuyan island on Saturday, then capsized, said Mayor Nanette Tansingco of San Fernando on Sibuyan island.

The typhoon lashed the central Philippines for about four hours on Saturday, setting off landslides and floods, knocking out power and blowing off roofs. Packing sustained winds of 120km/h and gusts of up to 150km/h, the typhoon shifted course yesterday to the northwest and battered Manila at dawn, dumping heavy rain on the capital.

Rescue vessels aborted an initial attempt on Saturday to get to the 23,824-tonne ferry, but efforts resumed in stormy weather yesterday.

Ms Tansingco said the bodies were found in three San Fernando villages, adding that residents had also found other objects that had apparently come from the ferry.

“Many slippers of children were washed ashore (on) the shoreline and found by villagers,” Ms Tansingco told DZBB radio.

The ferry, carrying 626 passengers and 121 crew members, was “dead in the water” after its engine failed about noon on Saturday, coast guard vice-admiral Wilfredo Tamayo said.

In southern Maguindanao province, at least 14 people drowned in flash-floods on Saturday, including 10 swept away from riverside homes, said provincial administrator Norie Unas. Five others were missing. A 50-year-old man and his 10-year-old grandson were killed when a landslide buried their hillside shanty in Cotabato city.

(AP)