By Xinhua,
Manila : Relatives of the manifested victims of the sunken ferry “M/V Princess of the Stars” will be compensated and receive financial assistance, the Philippine ship company announced Monday.
Each victim on the sunken “M/V Princess of the Stars” will receive 200,000 pesos (4,490 U.S. dollars) in compensation, Sally Buaron, the vice president of the ship company Sulpicio Lines, said at a news conference.
Buaron said financial assistance will also be paid to survivors but the amount is not disclosed.
“We are not running away from our responsibilities. We share the same eagerness with others concerning the fate of the missing,” Buaron said.
Buaron said the company is conducting in-house investigation into the accident.
Owner of the Sulpicio Lines Edgardo Go on Monday said the Princess of the Stars, the firm’s largest ship, was seaworthy and in good condition. He blamed nature for the sinking.
Go said his company will continue to cooperate with relevant government units and the relatives of the passengers to deal with the aftermath of the accident.
The vessel being manned by Capt. Florencio Marimon was carrying a total of 862 passengers including 81 minors. It met rough weather at sea on Saturday and completely sank off the coast of central Roblom province on Sunday.
Go said they had been maintaining contact with the vessel since it left Friday night around 8 p.m. at the Manila North Harbor. He said it was 12 noon on Saturday when they lost contact with the vessel’s chief.
“We are at a loss too and we wanted also to investigate what really happen there,” Buaron said.
But she said the ferry had secured the permit to sail on Friday and insisted that there is no engine problem with the 23,000-ton ferry which the company purchased from Japan in 2001.
“We have certificates to show that the vessel is seaworthy and has the necessary compliance certificates, and it never recorded any problem,” she told reporters.
The Philippine Department of Transportation and Communications on Monday ordered suspension of operation for all Sulpicio Lines vessels until the sea worthiness of its vessels are proved.
The Sulpicio Lines is also the owner of MV Dona Paz, the overloaded passenger ferry which capsized after crashing with a oil tanker, killing more than 4,000 people in December 1987.