A Jolt in Calm Water, Then an Explosion : Terror on Dona Paz: ‘I Saw the Sea in Flames’

The Dona Paz sailed through calm water, running lights gleaming, taking 1,500 people to Manila for Christmas. Then there was a jolt, an explosion and, as Paquito Osabel said, “I saw the sea in flames.”

Panic-stricken passengers screamed the names of loved ones as smoke and fire engulfed the ship, and those who survived had first to jump into the blazing, oil-slick water.

The last moments Osabel spent with his sister and three nieces was just before the accident, when they had sat down cross-legged on one of the crowded ship’s three decks. He was taking the women to spend Christmas with his family in Manila.

It was 10 p.m. Sunday, 18 hours after the five had boarded the Dona Paz at Tacloban City on Leyte island. In six more hours, it was due to dock in Manila.

The inter-island passenger ship carried 1,493 passengers and crew, according to the owners, Sulpicio Shipping Lines, but it was so crowded with holiday travelers that up to four people shared individual cots.

Violent Jar, Explosion

Suddenly there was a violent jar followed by a loud explosion.

“I went to a window to see what happened, and I saw the sea in flames,” Osabel told reporters in a Manila hospital. “I shouted to my companions to get ready. ‘There’s a fire!’ I said.

“The fire spread rapidly and engulfed our ship. There were flames everywhere. People were screaming and jumping. The smoke was terrible. We couldn’t see each other, and it was dark. I could see flames on the water below, but I jumped anyway.”

Osabel, 42, said he never again saw his sister Alejandra, 56, and his nieces Evangelina, Anna Liza and Loreta. “I don’t know where they are,” he said. “We were to spend Christmas with my family here.”

He was among only 26 people rescued from the 2,215-ton Dona Paz and the Philippine oil tanker Victor. Both sank immediately after colliding off Mindoro Island, about 110 miles southeast of Manila.

26 Are Rescued

Another inter-island ship, the Don Claudio, picked up 24 Dona Paz passengers and two tanker crewmen.

Samuel Carillo said he was walking to the ship’s canteen after talking with the captain when he felt a jolt and explosion.

“I went up and there were flames all over, and I jumped,” he said.