*ELLY: Sorry guys, I don't have time to write/update the info in this blog today. Well I just share with you guys the recent typhoon happened which attacking Philippines on last Saturday.
More discussion/summaries will be done on next coming days. Sorry for this:)
Hundreds still missing after Philippines typhoon· 28 survivors from ferry alive after 24 hours at sea
· Navy and coastguard scouring waters around ship
Twenty-eight more survivors of the Philippines ferry accident were found today when they made it to shore after drifting in a tiny rubber life-raft for 24 hours.
The discovery of the party more than 80 miles from the scene of the sinking brought the number of those discovered alive to just 32 out of 863 aboard the MV Princess of the Stars, which capsized when it sailed into Typhoon Fengshen on Saturday.
Rescuers from the Philippines navy and coastguard scoured the waters around the ship's upturned hull still visible above the waves, though it is feared many of the missing may have been be trapped inside the vessel when it capsized.
Divers who reached the ship sitting on a sandbank several miles off-shore, banged on the hull but got no response. They were expected to cut into the vessel in the slim hope that survivors had been trapped in air pockets.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo criticised authorities for allowing the Sulpicio Lines' ship to set off on the 22-hour voyage from Manila to Cebu on Friday when there were typhoon warnings.
But officials said the 23,824-tonne ship was in compliance with the regulations for larger vessels, and that Typhoon Fengshen had intensified and altered course dramatically.
The ferry's engines failed shortly before noon on Saturday and it ran aground on a sandbank off Sibuyan Island in the mountainous seas whipped up by winds gusting to 120mph. Radio contact was lost and rescuers were beaten back by the storm, only reaching the ship 24 hours later.
Nine bodies - all men from the ferry - washed up on the central Philippines island of Masbate, while life jackets and clothing from the stricken vessel was discovered all along the coastline.
The 28 survivors - mostly men - drifted in the life-raft were found by villagers at Mulanay township, Quezon province. It was reported that two people were washed overboard in the huge seas. One survivor wearing a life jacket was picked up by a fishing boat.
Richard Gordon, chair of the Philippines Red Cross said another survivor described towering waves and chaos as the ferry sank on Saturday afternoon.
"According to him it was so dark," said Gordon. "It was high noon but it was so dark, and there was too much rain and the waves were just too much for the ship."
Emotional relatives waited at the Sulpicio Lines' offices in Cebu, desperate for word of their loved ones as nuns and priests tried to comfort them.
Edgar Go, vice-president of Sulpicio Lines, today expressed his regret over the loss of life. "Sulpicio Lines deeply mourns the tragic loss of lives and its good ship, Princess of Stars, last 21st June 2008, losing to the untamed fury of mother nature in an unfortunate tragedy that nobody, least of all the company, wanted to happen," he said.
The official death toll from Saturday's typhoon reached 163, with authorities saying that 250,000 hectares of farmland - mostly paddy fields - had been damaged.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2008/jun/23/philippinesWatch the video above, thank u!
from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/23/typhoon?gusrc=rss&feed=travel
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