The sinking of the SuperFerry 9 vessel in waters off the southern Philippines on Sunday was just the latest in a series of deadly accidents across the archipelago. Ferries, whether huge steel-hulled versions such as the SuperFerry 9 or wooden dugouts with outriggers, are the backbone of maritime travel in this Southeast Asian archipelago, especially for the poor who cannot afford plane tickets.

But bad weather, particularly during the typhoon season, as well as poor maintenance, overloading of vessels and lax enforcement of regulations, has often brought disaster to sea travelers.
Here is a list of major ferry disasters in the Philippines over the past two decades:

September 6, 2009: Five people are confirmed killed and more than 60 are left missing after the Superferry 9 tilts sharply and then sinks near Zamboanga.

May 2009: Wooden-hulled MV Commander 6 cracks open and sinks just south of Manila, leaving 12 dead.
December 2008: Ferry Maejan capsizes off the northern Philippines, leaving 30 dead.

November 2008: Don Dexter Kathleen, small wooden-hulled ferry, capsizes in freak winds off the central island of Masbate, leaving 42 dead.

June 2008: The huge Princess of the Stars ferry, owned by Sulpicio Lines, capsizes at the height of a typhoon. Of the 850 on board, only 57 survive.

February 2004: A fire breaks out on Superferry 14 near Manila Bay, leaving 116 dead. Muslim extremists later claim they planted a bomb aboard the vessel.

April 2000: The overloaded ML Anahanda, which was supposed to be operating only as a cargo vessel, sinks off the island of Jolo. About 100 of the estimated 150 people on board die.

September 1998: The ferry MV Princess of the Orient, sister ship of the Princess of the Stars and also owned by Sulpicio Lines, sinks off Batangas City. About 150 die.

December 1994: A Singaporean freighter hits the ferry Cebu City in Manila Bay, leaving about 140 dead.

October 1988: The Doña Marilyn ferry, owned by Sulpicio Lines, sinks off the central island of Leyte, leaving more than 250 dead.

December 1987: The Doña Paz, sister ship of Doña Marilyn, collides with an oil tanker off Mindoro island, leaving more than 4,000 dead in the world’s worst peacetime shipping disaster>
AFP