Hantu Laut
Accident can happen when we least expect it and nothing we can do to stop it.
I always have reservations about flying in places like the Philippines, Indonesia, Burma, Laos and countries where air safety standard takes a back seat.
The Philippines had more than fair share of disasters, natural and man-made.
From God's furies of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and seasonal typhoons to man-made maritime and aviation disasters and not forgetting the restive provinces in the south where killings and murders hardly bat an eye.
From God's furies of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and seasonal typhoons to man-made maritime and aviation disasters and not forgetting the restive provinces in the south where killings and murders hardly bat an eye.
If you think the Titanic was the worst peacetime maritime disaster, it was, but not anymore.
The worst commercial maritime disaster in history happened in the Philippines. The collision, ensuing fire and eventual sinking of the "MV Dona Paz" in 1987 dwarfed the death toll on the Titanic. The death toll of the Dona Paz was estimated at 4,375 people.
The tragedy was caused by human greed.
The Dona Paz was formally the "Himeyuri Maru" built in 1963 and plied the Japanese waters and had passenger capacity of 608 people. It was later sold to Sulpicio Lines in the Philippines in 1975 and used as inter-island ferry.
A ferry with 608-passenger capacity carried more than 4,000 passengers? A mind-boggling feat of sheer greed bordering insanity. Thousands of names were not on the ship's manifest and official investigation also revealed only one apprentice member of the crew was monitoring the bridge when the accident occurred, other officers were either drinking beer or watching television and the captain watching movie on his video player.
The Philippines has a long list of inter-island maritime disasters and Filipinos are one of the most indiscipline people in Asia.They have no time for rules and regulations.
Air and sea travel are still considered the safest mode of transport, but accident do happen and can happen when you least expect it and more often than not in countries where people have no respect for rules and regulations.
Cebu Pacific crash landing exemplifies a shambolic air transport system
The crash landing Sunday of a Cebu Pacific domestic flight in Davao City in the Philippines exposed a long series of disasters after the flight veered off the runway and ended up nose-down in a ditch.
More than 160 passengers of Cebu Pacific Flight 5J 971 escaped unharmed after the plane came to a stop, although passengers charged that the evacuation procedure was such a mess that if the plane had caught fire, disaster would have ensued. All flights into and out of the Davao airport were cancelled.
That was only the start of the passengers' problems, with the travel chaos spilling over to the next day as they were bused 170 km to another airport where crowds waited for hours to be processed. The plane was still stranded yesterday, making Davao City's runway inaccessible to incoming and outgoing flights. Read more.
More than 160 passengers of Cebu Pacific Flight 5J 971 escaped unharmed after the plane came to a stop, although passengers charged that the evacuation procedure was such a mess that if the plane had caught fire, disaster would have ensued. All flights into and out of the Davao airport were cancelled.
That was only the start of the passengers' problems, with the travel chaos spilling over to the next day as they were bused 170 km to another airport where crowds waited for hours to be processed. The plane was still stranded yesterday, making Davao City's runway inaccessible to incoming and outgoing flights. Read more.
