11. MV Dona Paz and MT Vector collided killing more than 4,000 passengers and crew
Dona Paz was a ferry operating on a scheduled service between Leyte, Samar, and Manila in the Philippines when it collided on the night of December 20, 1987, with the gasoline-laden tanker Vector. Both ships were disasters waiting to happen. Dona Paz was severely overloaded, carrying over four thousand passengers, well above its limit, while Vector was operating without a license, a qualified master, or lookouts. Both ships were essentially operating illegally, and when they collided none of the qualified deck officers were on the bridge of either ship. The collision caused Vector to burst into flames, the fire spread to Dona Paz and the surrounding waters, into which panicked passengers leaped. The waters were also infested by sharks.
Because Dona Paz carried passengers not listed on its manifest, the exact casualty count could only be estimated. Of the bodies recovered, more were not listed than were. Only 24 people survived the accident, including two crewmen from Vector. An official Philippine presidential task force estimated that 4,386 victims died in the accident, making it in terms of loss of life the worst maritime disaster of the twentieth century, according to TIME magazine. The official manifest for Dona Paz listed just over 1500 passengers, an indication of how overloaded the vessel was. The official investigation blamed the accident on Vector and its owners were required to compensate the families of the victims of the tragedy.
