Lookout Was at Helm of Tanker That Hit Ferry

A man licensed only as a lookout was at the helm of the tanker that collided with a passenger ferry off the central Philippines last month in an accident that claimed up to 2,000 lives in the worst peacetime sea tragedy, a survivor said today.

Reynaldo Tarefe, a crew member on the oil tanker Vector, said the man at the helm of the vessel was licensed only as a second mate, a lookout rating, but had been allowed by the shipping company officials to pilot the 629-ton tanker.

Tarefe, one of the 26 survivors of the Dec. 20 tragedy, was testifying before a special team investigating the accident.

Up to 2,000 people were believed killed when the Vector and ferry Dona Paz collided and sank off the central island of Mindoro.

Tarefe said Cesar Abello, the man who piloted the tanker, was not the only crew member performing unauthorized functions.

Quartermaster Navigated

He said the tanker’s quartermaster, who was acting as navigator, was licensed only as a third mate. The two were among 11 of the Vector’s 13-member crew who died in the fiery collision.

Tarefe said he himself had been allowed to work as a lookout for Vector for more than two years, although he was licensed only as a deckhand on smaller craft.

“When I entered the company, I showed them my license but then they still permitted me (to act as lookout), so I worked for them,” Tarefe told the inquiry.

He said he was off duty at the time of the accident and was awakened by emergency alarms on the tanker.

“I was awakened by the alarms but I was unable to rise at once. Then I felt a thud and I immediately jumped out of my cot and peeped through the porthole from where I saw flames at the tanks,” he said.

Tarefe said he jumped off his vessel’s stern shortly after he saw fire spread across the tanker. It was then that he first saw the Dona Paz, whose bow he said was still intact and which had not caught fire.

He said he had swam quite a distance when he glanced back and saw both vessels still afloat and on fire.