List of maritime disasters in the Philippines

Below is a list of the most notable deadliest maritime incidents or tragedies in the Philippines.

List of maritime incidents[]

Maritime Vessel	Shipping line1	Incident		Deaths1	Missing1	Survivors1	Remarks
		Date	Fate
MV Don Juan	Negros Navigation	April 22, 1980	Sank after collision with oil tanker MT Tacloban City	176[1][2]	Gothong Lines	888[1][2]	MV Don Juan was a luxury liner bound for Bacolod. At 10:30 p.m. (PST) on April 22, 1980, it collided with an oil tanker, MT Tacloban, off Tablas Strait in Mindoro.[3] 15 minutes later, the vessel sank to a depth of 1,800 feet.[4] The vessel was carrying 1,004 passengers, but it was only cleared to carry 864 persons – including its crew.[5]
MV Cassandra	Un­known	November 21, 1983[6]	Sank after being battered by huge waves spawned by Typhoon Orchid[7]	167[6]	Un­known	Un­known	Capsized after being battered by Typhoon Warling (International name: Orchid).[6] Historically notable for the death of the Cassandra Martyrs of Charity a group of Catholic and Protestant religious workers, some of whose names are inscribed at the Philippines' Bantayog ng mga Bayani (lit. Monument of Heroes), for charitable works and activism which eventually helped expose and overthrow the Marcos dictatorship.[8][7][9]
MV Doña Paz	Sulpicio Lines	December 20, 1987	Caught fire and sank after a collision with an oil tanker, MT Vector	4,3412[10]	Un­known2	25[11][12]	On December 20, 1987, at 6:30 a.m. (PST), MV Doña Paz left from Tacloban City, Leyte, for the City of Manila, with a stopover at Catbalogan City, Samar. On December 20, 1987, at 10:30 p.m. (PST), the passenger vessel collided with a motor tanker, MT Vector, near Dumali Point between the provinces of Marinduque and Oriental Mindoro.[13] The vessel's manifest only listed 1,493 passengers and a 53-member crew, but survivor accounts that the vessel was carrying more than 4,000 passengers. The incident was the worst peacetime disaster and the worst in the 20th century,[11] and the vessel was even named the Asia's Titanic.[14]
MT Vector	Vector Shipping		Caught fire and sank after a collision with a passenger vessel, MV Doña Paz	11	0	2
MV Doña Marilyn	Sulpicio Lines	October 24, 1988	Sank due to strong winds and waves caused by Typhoon Ruby (Unsang)	389	2	197	In the afternoon of October 24, 1988, while sailing from Manila to Tacloban City, the vessel was caught up in Typhoon Unsang and sank.[15] It was the sister ship of MV Doña Paz.
MB Jem II	Un­known	January 3, 1989[16]	Sank due to large waves in the Tablas Strait	16[16]	45[16]	113[16]	The motor boat left Looc, Romblon and headed for Malay, Aklan with 174 passengers on board, mostly students. As it only had a 31-passenger capacity, the overloaded boat sank off of Aguho Point, Tablas Island in strong waves.[16]
MV Cebu City	William Shipping Company	December 2, 1994	Sank after collision with an container ship, MV Kota Suria	73	41	525	Collided with Singaporean container vessel, MV Kota Suria, off Manila Bay.[17] The container ship only had a dent in its bow.[18] Sister ship to MV Don Juan.
MV Kota Suria	Pacific Int���l Line Ltd.		Did not sink	0	0	Un­known
MV Viva Antipolo VII	Viva Shipping Inc.	May 16, 1995	Sank after the vessel caught fire	62	10	142	Caught fire within the vicinity of Dalahican Fish Port, Lucena.[19]
MV Kimelody Cristy	Moreta Shipping Lines	December 13, 1995	Sank after the vessel caught fire	24	13	100	At 2:00 a.m. (PST) on December 13, 1995, caught fire and sank off Fortune Island, Nasugbu, Batangas.[20]
ML Gretchen I	Noe and Clarita Quiamco	February 18, 1996	Sank	51	Un­known	145	Sank after being battered by strong winds and sank near Cadiz City. The old wooden ferry, according to the investigation, was not seaworthy and was carrying more than its allowed capacity. It was also eight hours late to dock in the Port of Cadiz.[21] The Philippine Coast Guard had failed to respond to the incident since the ferry has no radio on board.[22]
MV Princess of the Orient	Sulpicio Lines	September 18, 1998	Sank	70	80	355	On September 18, 1998, the 13,935-ton, 195-metre (640 ft) long MV Princess of the Orient, sailed from Manila to Cebu during a typhoon. The ship capsized at 12:55 p.m. (PST) near Fortune Island in Batangas.[23]
MV Asia South Korea	Trans-Asia Shipping Lines	December 23, 1999	Sank after collision with a rock	58	0	699	The vessel en route to Iloilo City from Cebu City when it rock formations off Bantayan Island. The collision created a hole in its hull causing its sinking.[24]
MV Maria Carmela	Montenegro Shipping Lines	April 11, 2002	Sank after the vessel caught fire	39	6	371	Fire broke out in the cargo hold of the vessel around 7:30 a.m. (PST).[25] The vessel was burning for three days until it sank in Pagbilao Island, near Quezon.[26]
MV San Nicolas	San Nicholas Shipping Lines	May 25, 2003	Sank after collision with SuperFerry 12	43	21	182	The collision happened at 11:45 a.m. (PST) near Limobones Point, Corregidor. MV San Nicholas was heading for Manila, while Superferry 12 was sailing for Cebu.[27]
MV SuperFerry 12	Aboitiz		Did not sink	0	0	1,700[28]	The ferry suffered minor damage, was repaired and returned into service. However, the ferry later involved on another incident and was caught fire at Cebu in March 2006.[29] Despite the past mentioned incidents, the ferry continued is career for several years later until it was eventually retired in 2021.
MV SuperFerry 14	Aboitiz	February 27, 2004	Sank after bombed by Abu Sayyaf terrorists	94	24	781	On the night of the 27th of February, the ferry sailed out of Manila for Cagayan de Oro City via Bacolod and Iloilo City with 899 recorded passengers and crew aboard.[30] An hour after its 11 p.m. sailing, just off either El Fraile or Corregidor Island an explosion tore through the vessel, starting a fire that engulfed the ship which caused the deaths of some of the passengers.[31] A television set containing a 3.6-kilogram (8-pound) TNT bomb had been placed on board in the lower, more crowded decks.[32] It was the Philippines' deadliest terrorist attack and the world's deadliest terrorist attack at sea.[33][34]
MV Princess of the Stars	Sulpicio Lines	June 21, 2008	Capsized	437	605	32	MV Princess of the Stars capsized off the coast of San Fernando, Romblon at the height of Typhoon Frank. The ferry left Manila en route to Cebu City. Although Typhoon Frank, had made landfall at Samar Island earlier the same day, the Princess of the Stars was permitted to sail because the vessel was large enough to stay afloat in the typhoon's periphery. However, Frank unexpectedly changed course later that day, placing the ferry in serious danger of being overwhelmed by the storm.[35] According to an account given by four survivors, who managed to swim to nearby Sibuyan Island, the Princess of the Stars had not malfunctioned, but ran into rough seas off the coast of Romblon.[36]
MB Don Dexter	Un­known	November 4, 2008	Capsized	42	10	105	Motor banca Don Dexter capsized near Macaraguit Island, Dimasalang, Masbate after its outrigger broke.
MB Jen-Mar	Un­known	December 14, 2008	Capsized	47	30	45	Motor banca Jen-Mar capsized near the vicinity of Linao, Aparri, Cagayan after its outrigger broke. The motor banca was carrying passengers in excess of its allowed capacity, and bad weather condition which was a contributory cause of its capsizing.
MV Catalyn B	San Nicolas Shipping Lines	December 24, 2009	Sank after colliding with fishing vessel FV Anatalia	25[37]	2[37]	46[38]	Wooden-hulled passenger vessel MV Catalyn B collided with FV Anatalia off the coast of Limbones Island in Maragondon, Cavite. The vessel was traveling from Manila's Pier 2 to Tilik Port in Lubang, Occidental Mindoro when FV Anatalia crossed its path, causing it to collide with the fishing vessel and sink.[39][40]
FV Anatalia	Unknown		Steel-hulled vessel was damaged in the rear but afloat	0	0	All crew survived	The steel-hulled fishing vessel FV Anatalia was on its way back to the Navotas Fish Port Complex after a fishing expedition in the Turtle Islands and was entering Manila Bay when MV Catalyn B collided with the vessel's rear.[37][41]
MV Baleno 9	Besta Shipping Lines	December 26, 2009	Capsized	6[42]	54[42]	72[42]	RORO vessel MV Baleno 9 capsized in the vicinity of Barangay San Agapito in Verde Island, Batangas while it was en route from Calapan, Oriental Mindoro to Batangas City.[42][43]
MV St. Thomas Aquinas	2Go	August 16, 2013	Sank after collision with a cargo ship, MV Sulpicio Express Siete	114[44]	23[44]	750[45]	On 16 August 2013, MV St. Thomas Aquinas departed from Nasipit, Agusan del Norte, on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. At approximately 9:00 p.m. (PST), it was heading into the port at Cebu City via the Cebu Strait when it collided with MV Sulpicio Express Siete, a cargo ship owned by the Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corporation that was leaving port, approximately 1.2 miles (1.9 km) from Talisay, Cebu.[46] The vessel immediately began to take on water, prompting the captain to order the ship abandoned.[47] The crew hurriedly handed out life jackets as hundreds of passengers jumped overboard. Within 30 minutes, the ship had sunk. At the time of the collision, St. Thomas Aquinas was carrying 715 passengers (58 were infants) and 116 crew members. Many passengers were asleep at the time or otherwise had trouble finding their way to the deck in the dark.[46]
MV Sulpicio Express Siete	Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corporation		Damaged; did not sink[46]	0[46]	0[46]	36[46]	The Sulpicio Express Siete, which did not sink, has 36 crew members on board.[46]
MB Kim Nirvana-B	Un­known	July 2, 2015	Capsized	62	0	158	The sinking of Kim Nirvana-B occurred on the morning of 2 July 2015, en route from Ormoc to Pilar in Ponson Island, among the Camotes Islands.[48] According to initial reports, the motor banca capsized due to overload with passengers and cargo and that the boat took a sharp turn. Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) later stated that the boat capsized not because of overloading, but "the negligent operations of the captain".[49] Authorities placed the final count of death toll to 62, while 158 survived.[50]
MB Chi-chi	Un­known	August 3, 2019	Capsized	11[51]	1[51]	37[51]	Capsized due to "squalls" or strong gust of wind and rain at sea between Iloilo Strait and Guimaras Strait intensified by tropical monsoon winds and rains battering parts of Luzon and Visayas.[52] The M/B Chi-Chi and M/B Keziah collided and capsized after they were hit by a squall and big waves caused by monsoon winds, while the third boat, M/B Jenny Vince, figured in a separate accident and also capsized.[52]
MB Jenny Vince	Un­known			20[51]	2[51]	22[51]
MB Keziah 2	Un­known			0[51]	0[51]	5[51]
FV Liberty 5	Irma Fishing and Trading Inc.	June 27, 2020	Sank after colliding with bulk carrier MV Vienna Wood N	14[53]	0	0	The Filipino-owned fishing vessel Liberty 5 was on its way to the Navotas Fish Port in Navotas, Metro Manila from a fishing expedition in Mapun, Tawi-Tawi when it collided with the Hong Kong-flagged bulk carrier MV Vienna Wood N in the vicinity of Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro. Inclement weather may have contributed to the collision of the two vessels. None of the 14 individuals onboard the fishing vessel were found.[54]
MV Vienna Wood N	A. M. Nomikos Transworld Maritime Agencies		Did not sink	0	0	20	The Hong Kong-flagged bulk carrier MV Vienna Wood N was on its way to Australia from Subic Bay Freeport when it collided with the fishing vessel Liberty 5 in the vicinity of Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro.[53] A hold departure order was given to the 20 crew of the bulk carrier by the Regional Trial Court Branch 44 in Mamburao while the Philippine Coast Guard filed criminal charges against crew and owners of the vessel.[55] The charges were dismissed by prosecutors after the owners of the fishing vessel and the owners of the bulk carrier reached a settlement worth PH₱ 40 million. The vessel was allowed to leave the Philippines on 17 September 2020.[56]

See also[]

• List of maritime disasters

References[]

External links[]