MV Hermogenes was brand-new... in 1957. The thirty-year-old ship has been tested through time. It has been smashed by waves a million times, mother nature's given up. It has transported countless number of people; countless because the ship's authorities has always allowed the boarding of more people than its listed capacity. More than half of the total passengers are not written in the ship's manifest.
This floating piece of metal is nowhere near retiring from the service. It brings large sums of cash to the company with every voyage. And with only seven ships in its fleet, the maritime company has to be crazy before thinking of its decommission.
Rust has already eaten most of the exteriors of the ship. Its electronics are already obsolete and unreliable. A good example would be the lights of ship. It is a big question why vessels like these are still allowed to sail. The ship has already been repainted six times just to hide all the years of its service. It used to be white, and after six coats of paint, it is still a dull white. The floors of the ship are no longer as smooth as before. Rust has created little holes on them that turns into puddles when it rains. The radio is still good but its navigation systems are so three dacades ago. Its is really a floating death trap. Perhaps money has blinded the eyes of the maritime authorities to let vessels like MV Hermogenes to continue sailing.
MV Hermogenes was not alone on the sea. A tanker was also sailing nearby. It is unimaginable how two massive floating objects which could control their own motion, cross each other's path in the vast sea. But somehow, just somehow, it happened. The captains of both ships saw each other's vessel at a dangerous distance. Too close to steer, the ships collided.
Everybody felt the crash. Screaming, everybody was screaming. Horrifying is the right word to describe what happened. People were running to get outside. They rushed to get life vests but there wasn't enough for everybody. Somewhere, Charles Darwin is looking down at the passengers saying, "ah this is literally survival of the fittest." People flooded the decks, all wanting to live. Most of them courageously jumped into the water to save their lives. They had to swim as fast as they could and the farthest they could go to avoid being sucked to the bottom when the ships sink.
"Help! Help!" everbody was screaming for help but nobody could hear them; they were in the middle of the sea.
"Oh, Lord, please spare me!" an old man swimming in his pajamas shouted.
There was no use. They were all destined to die.
A very loud bang thundered across the sea. For sure God Himself has heard that boom. Since sound travels faster in water than air, the poor sea-creatures happily swimming nearby could've been dead in a few seconds with that very loud bang. And there was light. The tanker exploded and was blown to smithereens. Oil has leaked to the sea and fire engulfed the ships and the water around them. Those who new how to swim didn't get the slightest chance at survival.
After the blast, burnt bodies were everywhere. Dead people were floating right where the ships sank. MV Hermogenes and Tanker Velocity had already sunk to the bottom of the sea of sorrow. Not everybody managed to get out. A lot of the passengers were trapped inside when the explosion happened. Their bodies sank and the ship was their casket.
A lot of people went overboard. They tried to swim away but there was no use. The fire was great enough to kill all except a handful. They were all destined to die. They were all part of that one great story about the worst sea-mishap ever recorded. There names will forever be written in history.
And the saddest news of all, Mr. Cruz never got out of the boat. He was not part of the lucky twenty-six.
