# Unclaimed Bodies from 'Princess of the Stars"



## billyboy (Jul 6, 2005)

Cebu has the bodies of many drowned people who perished when the Ferry 'Princess of the stars" capsized last year.
See here http://ph.news.yahoo.com/gma/20090620/tph-mass-burial-set-for-unclaimed-bodies-ce44f36.html

I think the thing here is that if you dont claim it you dont have to pay for the funural. But, Sulpicio ferries said right in the begining that they would pay all funural expences. Such is the Filipino culture eh!
Makes me sick!


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## Pompeyfan (Aug 9, 2005)

Any idea of the conditions these bodies are being kept in Billy?.

There could be many reasons why some have not been identified such as the reasons you give. Others may not want to identify a relative. I found that quite a lot, people could just not bring themselves to view or identify, and of course it could a culture thing. Not an easy answer I am afraid when dealing with death, and how each person deals with it when having to face a body family or friend especially if preserved either by freezing or embalming etc.

David


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## billyboy (Jul 6, 2005)

I would guess that these have all been embalmed and kept in cold storage David. Many of the identified bodies are still unclaimed as well.

Dont know how you coped with the smell of the decomposing ones. I got a whiff of one once in a mortuary. I do so hope I never have the misfortune to smell anything like that again. Dreadful smell.


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## shamrock (May 16, 2009)

If the unidentified bodies have been left for any amount of time in the sea, chances are that without DNA they won't be identified anyway...I am not sure if the Philippines have access to such technology, or at least as sophisticated as many of the larger countries have at their disposal.

Since the ferry company accepted they would pay for the funeral cost, then perhaps the relatives signed paperwork to that effect and assumed the ferry company would take care of their loved one's properly and with dignity. It won't be the first time a company has told relatives one thing and done either something else or nothing at all.


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## billyboy (Jul 6, 2005)

When the Bodies were first recovered they were stored in refrigerated containers pending identification. Most have been identified now. However there is still something like 480 Bodies still missing somewhere.
No further news coverage of the recovery of the ship for many months now. I will try to find more about the salvage on the net tonight.


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## shamrock (May 16, 2009)

I was in Manila about 10 days or so before the accident, caught a few ferries on photographs, one photo I took was at sunset, made an attractive photo at the time...often wondered if Princess of the Stars was there that day. Kind of brings it home to you when you see some of the ships like the one lost before a tragedy.


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## billyboy (Jul 6, 2005)

And some of them are very old and in a bad state too!. Always fly when going to Manila unless I can get a W&A Superferry. Too many death traps out here sailing with up to three extra decks welded on to them. That makes them rather unstable.


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## shamrock (May 16, 2009)

I did notice that they looked more than a little worse for wear, a bit like every other country's cast off's. Chilling thought just thinking back to last June when I was aboard Allegra and looking across at the ferries coming and going during the day


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## shamrock (May 16, 2009)

Billy, this is the photo I took from Allegra shortly before we left Manila. Three ferries, two in the foreground (Superferry & Cebu) were in port all day but the one behind the Superferry arrived about a couple hours before we left. The sun was just starting to set and with the funnel of M/S Philippines in the background I thought made a nice capture. Little did I know that just days afterwards, there would be another ferry lost.


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## billyboy (Jul 6, 2005)

Interesting picture Shamrock. Thanks for posting it.


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## Pompeyfan (Aug 9, 2005)

billyboy said:


> I would guess that these have all been embalmed and kept in cold storage David. Many of the identified bodies are still unclaimed as well.
> 
> Dont know how you coped with the smell of the decomposing ones. I got a whiff of one once in a mortuary. I do so hope I never have the misfortune to smell anything like that again. Dreadful smell.


I dealt with many decomposed bodies Billy. There is no other smell like it, absolutely nothing. 

We tended to keep long term bodies in deep freeze. I have had them for more than a year like that, but they could not do the same for so many like from this ferry. They may not have adequate cold storage for embalmed bodies either, or indeed normal body fridges in poor countries. We did not have enough in this country in any hospital They also stink fridges out because of the high level of formalin. I have had a few of them as well. Even we are not well prepared for major disasters body storage wise, especially here on the island, with so many ferry routes. 

Imagine what it would be like if a large cruise ship went down, bodies found, but not claimed. The general public do not realize the problems with storage. In my former mortuary, I would have struggled with a major disaster of 12.

Being an island, we are more likely to have a shipping disaster than most, having so many ferry routes, and of course not being able to use other mortuaries as a spill over. When planning the new mortuary I wanted triple the space I had at the time, room to build on, and an entire area with a freezing plant that could be used to preserve 200 bodies or more in cold storage should a ferry go down. The latter was refused. 


David


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## shamrock (May 16, 2009)

You only have to remember the problems of body storage after the tsunami to see how bad things were. There just weren't enough facilities anywhere in the affected areas to store the bodies properly or to allow identification. I think in the end many of the dead were buried in lime pits without identification.


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## fred henderson (Jun 13, 2005)

shamrock said:


> I did notice that they looked more than a little worse for wear, a bit like every other country's cast off's. Chilling thought just thinking back to last June when I was aboard Allegra and looking across at the ferries coming and going during the day


Most are ex-Japanese ferries. Sulpicio Lines holds the record for the highest peacetime death toll of any shipping line in the world, killing more than 5,300 in four accidents since 1987. Its passenger carrying licence is currently suspended.

Fred (Thumb)


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## billyboy (Jul 6, 2005)

I travelled on one ferry from Davao to Zamboanga a few years ago. Imagine ...I was standing three decks down on the origional teak decking looking at the marks where the lifeboat dericks used to be. Three decks above me plus the bridge and accomodation for the officers. What of the stability factor there?


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## Naytikos (Oct 20, 2008)

Not the most pleasant of topics, but, nevertheless, one which has to be addressed. I am a member of a 'hurricane committee' on this island, and disposal of casualties has to be planned in advance. We have no refrigeration or storage facilities, so the plan is very, very simple. It is, however, not necessary or desirable for the details to be public knowledge.


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## Pompeyfan (Aug 9, 2005)

Naytikos said:


> Not the most pleasant of topics, but, nevertheless, one which has to be addressed. I am a member of a 'hurricane committee' on this island, and disposal of casualties has to be planned in advance. We have no refrigeration or storage facilities, so the plan is very, very simple. It is, however, not necessary or desirable for the details to be public knowledge.


Naytikos

It is the same even in this country. We are an island where I live, and have 6 ferry routes, car ferry's hi speed ferries, and hovercraft. We do not normally get hurricanes, although did in 1987, hurricane force winds.

I would have been in overall charge of any make shift mortuary including my own. So we like you planned in advance, and often had drills involving a ferry going down using all the emergency services that would be involved. We might be close to the mainland here on the Isle of Wight, but weather conditions could if bad enough cut us off from the mainland.

As you say, not the most pleasant of topics but these things have to be planned in advance at meetings and drills bringing all the emergency services together. The main priority of course is to save lives. But the dead also have to be cared for, properly identified which is where those of us experienced at those procedures in ever day life are involved to oversee a team.


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