Sealed Below Deck: 402 Banned Pesticide Found in Sinking Ferry
A locked cargo container holding 402 drums of endosulfan - 25 kg each, 10,000 kg total - lay sealed on D deck eighty-five feet underwater while survivors and bodies floated around the capsized ferry for six days. How did banned pesticide meant for a different ship end up aboard the MV Princess of the Stars, and who failed to stop it before departure?
In this episode, we lay out the timeline and decisions that placed a banned, acutely toxic cargo on the flagship ferry during Typhoon Fengshen and the consequences that followed. You will hear how the drums were discovered, what the salvage recovered, and the unanswered questions that tied cargo manifest errors to a maritime catastrophe.
Person: Nanette Tansingco Date: June 21, 2008 Location: MV Princess of the Stars, Manila-Cebu route Event: Capsizing during Typhoon Fengshen Cargo: 402 drums of endosulfan (25 kg each; 10,000 kg total)
- 870 people were aboard the ferry when it capsized; 56 survived. - The ship measured 193 m length, 29 m width, gross tonnage 23,824, built 1984 and refitted to increase capacity from 554 to 1,992. - The 402 drums were discovered sealed in a forty-foot container on D deck by a diver on June 27, six days after the sinking. - Salvage operations led by Titan Salvage began September 24, 2008; the last drum was confirmed recovered October 11, 2008. - Approximately 200,000 liters of fuel were recovered and cleared by around October 17, 2008.
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