POLICE REPORT:
Ferry capsizes in Cagayan, drowning 23
Vessel owner among casualties, official says
TUGUEGARAO CITY -- (UPDATE 2) At least 23 people drowned and 15 others were reported missing after a passenger boat capsized off waters in Aparri, Cagayan, on Sunday night, police said.
Senior Inspector Alex de los Santos, police chief of Ballesteros town and the rescue team leader, said 43 others were rescued after the boat sank at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday along Barangay (village) Linao.
Reports from the police regional office 2 said the M/B Mae Jan left Calayan Island for Appari when it capsized at 8:30 p.m. due to strong waves.
De los Santos said the boat, which was carrying at least 80 people, came from the Calayan Islands and was approaching the mouth of the Cagayan River on its way to the Aparri port when the vessel was battered by strong waves.
De los Santos identified 11 of the fatalities as Amy Arellano, Wilfredo Agatao, Angel Suarez, Kristine Cangas, Eva Llopis, Leonardo Llopis, Ofelia Balmes, Paz Escalante, Karen Fadero, Angela Tabo, Abella Arellano. Their bodies and that of 11 other victims were taken to funeral parlors in Aparri for identification.
Police said some passengers survived by clinging to floating driftwood. Several of them wore life jackets.
The owner of the vessel, Arellano, was among the casualties in the incident, De los Santos told INQUIRER.net.
De los Santos also said that there was a possibility that the boat was overloaded, saying that there was also livestock on board. He added that the captain of the vessel, who has not been identified, was alive and refused to talk to police, possibly because of “trauma” experienced after the incident.
De los Santos said bad weather was hampering search and rescue operations for the missing.
De los Santos described weather conditions there as “bad,” with strong winds and cloudy skies but no rains.
Rescue teams are still conducting rescue operations for the remaining missing, he said.
Last month, a cargo ship sank in rough seas north of Cagayan, and passing vessels plucked 16 of 20 people from shark-infested waters. Weeks earlier, separate storms capsized two passenger boats in the central Philippines, drowning more than 50 people.
Sea accidents are common in the Philippine archipelago because of tropical storms, badly maintained boats and weak enforcement of safety regulations.
In December 1987, the ferry Doña Paz sank after colliding with a fuel tanker, killing more than 4,341 people in the world's worst peacetime maritime disaster.
The state weather bureau over the weekend warned of an approaching storm from the Pacific with winds of up to 60 miles (95 kilometers) per hour.
Tropical Storm “Ulysses” (international codename: Dolphin) could become a typhoon before getting closer to the eastern Philippines in the next few days, according to forecasts.
Philippine maritime disaster.
At least 28 people drowned and were confirmed dead, 46 were rescued, while 34 others remain missing on Sunday, after an overcrowded passenger  capsized off waters in , a town of 17,000 people, the  police reported. 

'M/B Mae Jan', a wooden-hulled , was carrying 102 passengers, after an eight-hour voyage from  in the  for  when it capsized less than 300 meters (984 feet) from its destination, at 8:30 p.m. Its   broke due to strong waves, as it reached the mouth of the  ('Bannag' Rio Grande de Cagayan, 'Ilog ng Kagayan'), along  Linao, about 50 meters from the shoreline of Pallog village.

Divers from the combined teams of the  and  helped in the rescue operations. 11 of the fatalities, including the vessel owner, Arellano, and her daughter were identified. The police said  "there was a possibility that the boat was overloaded," saying that "there was also livestock on board."  Due to "trauma," the ferry's captain refused to talk to police.

The Pinacanauan River, seen just below the , is one of the major tributaries of the Cagayan River.
Meanwhile, the  (PCG) formed a Special Board of Marine Inquiry (SBMI) to investigate the sea tragedy. It ordered the "immediate dispatch of SAR-003 and MCS-3005 vessels and the PCG Islander for aerial surveillance." PCG noted the  possible overloading of the vessel since the boat's franchise authorized it to carry only 40 passengers and 10 crew members.

In November, a  sank in rough seas north of Cagayan, and passing vessels rescued 16 of 20 passengers. Weeks earlier, separate storms sank two passenger vessels in the central Philippines, drowning more than 50 people.

Prior to the ferry sinking, the  had issued  to , of approaching tropical storm "Ulysses" (international codename: Dolphin) from the Pacific with winds of up to 60 miles (95 kilometers) per hour, centered off southeastern , eastern Philippines.