MANILA – The death toll in last Friday’s sea accident in Cebu has risen to 33 after a 4-year-old child died in a local hospital following the sinking of 2GO's MV St. Thomas Aquinas.
Four-year-old Jessa Mae Bacia was on board the MV St. Thomas Aquinas with her mother, Marlinda, when it collided with the cargo vessel Sulpicio Express 7 off the coast of Talisay City in Cebu.
Jessa Mae had to be hospitalized after ingesting a large amount of sea water.
Marlinda said she and her daughter were vacationing in Surigao, where they celebrated Jessa Mae’s birthday.
Mother and daughter were separated during the ship’s sinking. Marlinda had entrusted Jessa Mae to the ship's crew since she does not know how to swim.
When Marlinda saw her daughter at the hospital, Jessa Mae was already dead.
Marlinda’s husband just arrived in Cebu today from Manila.
Aside from Jessa Mae, 22 of the 33 recovered bodies brought to the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes in Cebu City have been identified.
Among these are 4-year-old Joshua Rene Diaz from Davao Oriental and Julius Flores, a member of the MV St. Thomas Aquinas Crew.
The collision between MV St. Thomas Aquinas and Sulpicio Express 7 occurred at Lawis Ledge at 9:11 pm last Friday, about 2-and-a-half miles away from the shoreline.
Hundreds of passengers of MV St. Thomas Aquinas had to jump into the water as the ship began to sink 10 minutes after the collision. There were 831 people on board – 715 passengers and 116 crew members.
Search and rescue operations conducted by the Philippine Coast Guard in Central Visayas were suspended Saturday afternoon due to bad weather, but will continue today. A total of 171 passengers remain missing.
The MV St. Thomas Aquinas came from Agusan del Norte and was headed to Manila via Cebu.
On Saturday, Transportation and Communication Sec. Jun Abaya said the Sulpicio Express 7 may have violated the vessel traffic separation scheme implemented in the area.
Abaya said initial investigations indicate that the cargo vessel rammed into the 2GO passenger vessel at a “very vulnerable point,” causing it to sink.
Following the accident, the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) suspended the operations of all ships owned by 2GO and Philippine Span Asia (formerly Sulpicio Lines)
