On Superferry 9 disaster: Inquiry calls swarm City Hall action center
The City Disaster Coordinating Council action center in City Hall has received over a hundred calls since its establishment Tuesday inquiring about whereabouts as well as assistance for passengers affected by the Sunday Superferry 9 disaster.
Mayor Celso Lobregat said the calls come from Manila, Ilo-ilo, Davao, South Cotabato and General Santos and mostly include queries about the whereabouts of their missing relatives who boarded the commercial vessel in General Santos and tilted and later sank off Siocon Bay in Zamboanga del Norte Sunday morning.
As this developed, the death toll in the disaster rose to 10 as of 3 p.m. yesterday with the retrieval of a woman’s body already in a state of decomposition in the waters of Siocon Tuesday night. The body remains unidentified and is lying in state at the La Merced Funeral Homes together with the remains of the 6 other casualties. The remains of the 3 others were brought to Bacolod from the rescue site last Sunday.
Citing records from the City Hall action center, Lobregat said 7 passengers remain missing and these include Orbina Paterno- 64; Melanie Logronio- 28; Cherryl Logronio- 25; Edilberto Maluto- 75; Aida Rosete- 39; Nick Angelo Rosete- 10 and Teresita Gido- 34.
Lobregat said the rescue teams have assured that rescue and retrieval operations for unaccounted passengers will continue.
Superferry 9 passengers—both rescued and casualties totals 968 based on the action center record. Of the total number, 366 were billeted in hotels in the city following their rescue Sunday but 304 of them have already returned to their places of origin while 62 remain in the city.
Some 38 passengers were confined in local hospitals and 24 of them were already discharged as of 3 p.m. yesterday while 14 remain confined.
Lobregat said the action center will continue to operate 24 hours a day to receive all queries from relatives of Superferry 9 passengers.
The establishment of the action center was the result of a joint meeting of the Regional and City Disaster Coordinating Councils initiated by Mayor Lobregat in City Hall Tuesday morning.
The center is manned by combined personnel from the City Social Welfare office, Aboitiz Transport Systems-the owner of Superferry 9, Smart Communications Inc. and other agencies concerned.
The action center’s hotline number is 09286404597. (Sheila Covarrubias)