|
Officials suspended on Friday recovery operations at
a sunken ferry containing hundreds of corpses after learning it was
carrying large amounts of highly toxic pesticide.
A hundred photographs of the
retrieved bodies from MV Princess of the Stars will be released
today at the North Harbor office of Sulpicio Lines Inc. in Manila.
Sulpicio Lines owns the ferry and at least 20 other passenger and
cargo vessels.
Howard Areza, a lawyer from the
Public Attorney’s Office, announced also on Friday that the photos
will be posted outside the office today in order for the
unidentified victims of the ferry’s capsizing to be identified by
families and friends, who had been unable to go to Cebu province.
The bodies of these unidentified victims have been brought to the
province, where Sulpicio Lines is based.
Areza denied rumors he was sent
because a case had been filed against Sulpicio Lines. He said
company officials have been “cooperative” with the Public
Attorney’s Office.
Government authorities threatened
legal proceedings against Sulpicio for not informing them of the
insecticides inside a 12.2-meter shipping container.
Some 100 American and Filipino
divers have been working at the site in central Philippines after
Princess of the Stars went down in a typhoon on June 21 carrying
more than 850 passengers and crew. At least 55 survivors have been
found.
‘Super’ toxic pesticide
Sulpicio Lines has “a lot to
answer for,” Vice President Noli de Castro, who is overseeing the
recovery operations, said during a radio interview.
He added that passenger ferries
are not authorized to carry such chemicals.
The latest news is likely to
complicate the operations whose slow pace was already causing
mounting anger. As of Thursday, only 15 bodies had been pulled from
the wreckage.
Officials identified the
pesticide as “Endosulfan,” which has been blamed for causing
mental and genetic disorders, skin diseases and even cancer in rural
communities in India, according to media reports.
Greenpeace, an international
campaigner for the protection of the environment expressed outrage
on the discovery of what it described as “the super-toxic
pesticide.”
“Endosulfan, a neuro-toxic
organochlorine insecticide, manufactured by Bayer Crop Science, has
been restricted in the Philippines since 1994,” it said in a
statement.
It is “highly toxic and
persistent. Studies indicate that it endangers the health and
well-being of children, farm workers and those living proximate to
affected areas. Poisoning symptoms include headaches, nausea,
vomiting, seizures, and in extreme cases, unconsciousness and even
death. It is a suspected endocrine disruptor, with low dose exposure
while in the womb being linked to autism, male reproductive harm and
birth defects,” it added.
Greenpeace said endosulfan is
being considered today for global elimination under the United
Nations Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (Stockholm
Convention) to which the Philippines is a signatory.
Del Monte’s cargo
The pesticide, which was
consigned to pineapple grower Del Monte, was supposed to have been
carried in a cargo ship, according Norlito Vicana, executive
director of the fertilizer authority.
“They [Sulpicio] only told Del
Monte on Wednesday [June 25], in writing, that the cargo had been
switched to the passenger ship,” he told ABS-CBN broadcast
network.
“That was five days after the
ferry sank . . . this type of chemical is not allowed on board
passenger ships,” Vicana said.
Civil defense chief Anthony Golez
said the insecticide was “highly toxic” to people and to fish.
“So far, there are still no
detectible signs of Sulfan in the environment,” he added.
Golez said the recovery
operations were halted “so we don’t endanger the lives of our
divers.”
He added that President Gloria
Arroyo, who is on a visit to the United States, instructed the
government to “focus efforts in trying to contain the chemical and
carefully retrieve the container so as not to contaminate the
environment.”
Divers from the Philippine Navy
and the Coast Guard as well as US Navy frogmen have been trying to
retrieve bodies all week from the ship, which went down on June 21
off Sibuyan Island in Romblon province.
The Coast Guard commander,
Wilfredo Tamayo, said one of his divers has already complained of
itchiness all over his body, although the cause was not clear.
“As of now, [the retrieval
operations] are temporarily suspended,” he added.
Samples of water from the area
are already being tested, health officials said.
Reports say the ship may have
been carrying up to 40 containers, although it is not known what was
inside
Divers earlier reported seeing
through the portholes many floating bodies inside the ship.
They, however, have struggled to
reach the bodies inside the 23,000-ton ferry because exits and
passageways are blocked by debris.
Authorities also earlier pondered
a risky operation to bore a hole on the sides of the ship, which is
reporting to be carrying 250,000 liters of bunker oil and is
balanced delicately on an underwater reef.
Sulpicio Lines has had at least
three other major accidents since 1987, when its Dona Paz vessel
collided with an oil tanker, killing around 4,000 passengers and
crew in the worst peacetime maritime disaster in history.
The government suspended the
company’s operations until further notice, while anti-corruption
campaigners are planning a class action lawsuit. A board of inquiry
is also conducting hearings on the company’s possible liability.
AFP, Cris-Ann G. Odronia, Jose
Angelo D. Cantera, Angelo S. Samonte and Maricel V. Cruz
|
