Worst Than The Titanic- MV Doña Paz

[1] Asia's Titanic [1]

Chapter 1: Asia's Titanic

What is the worlds worst peace-time maritime disaster? It is not the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it is this ship, the MV Doña Paz that just 5 days before Christmas in 1987, sailed into infernal with a lost of possibly 4,000 souls, many of them burnt alive in this infernal at sea. How can a passenger ferry sailed in calm water and ended up as Asia's Titanic.

Passenger ferries like the Doña Paz were among the cheapest and the most popular way to travel in the Philippines, A country in South East Asia comprising over 7,000 islands.

Just 5 days before Christmas, 100's of people boarded the Doña Paz for a 24 hour voyage, that will take them from the Island of Lyte to the capital of Philippines, Manila.

The Doña Paz was authorised to carry a maximum load of 1,518 passengers, but on the night of the accident, survivors say there were maybe more than 4,000 people on board, it was crowded and it was tilted on one side. Up to 4 people shared makeshift cloths, while others sat on the floor, of the three deck ship. Many of the passengers that boarded the Doña Paz were entire families with young children.

It was going to be an exciting adventure for Aludia Bascal only 18 years old, she survived the burning ship and so as her 43 year old father. She decided to skip her Christmas Party in School and join her father to spend Christmas in the country's capital. But only minutes into the voyage, Aludia realised her journey herself would be far from glamorous. Many of the passengers couldn't sleep because their were no space to lie down, in fact their were hardly any place to sit down.

Her 43 year old father told Aludia not to leave their family only got spot. As Aludia guide there belongings her father search the ship for food. In the kitchen, the situation was from worst, it was a struggled to get food, so many passengers didn't get to eat.

The MV Doña Paz had an official passenger list of 1,493, with a crew of 59 onboard, but the list may not have included as many as 1,000 children below the age of 4 and many passengers who paid their fare after boarding.

The Doña Paz was originally built and used in Japan in 1963 and bought by a Filipino ferry company in 1975 and was authorized to carry a maximum load of 1,518 passengers. A survivor Pedro Solema came onboard without a ticket, but it wasn't only him. At first they ask you for your ticket before they let aboard the ship, but later on anyone could just get on. A lot of chance passengers were able to ride the ship. Like many other passengers like Pedro Solema's name would not appear in the ship's manifest, also not in the passenger list were Philippine Military Soldiers and Police Units, they were all on their way home for the holiday. Many soldiers came onboard the MV Doña Paz, they all headed home to there families because it was nearly Christmas. They walked around the ship with there rifles, their were a lot of them and 1000 of the Soldiers died in the burning ship.