MANILA - A Philippine Air Force helicopter plucked to safety yesterday a woman who drifted for about 30 hours in choppy seas after the sinking of a ferry that killed nine. Only one of the nearly 1,000 people who were on board is now missing.
Lita Casumlum, 39, was found bobbing with a life jacket about 8 miles from where Superferry 9 sank on Sunday. Rear Admiral Alex Pama, who helped supervise the rescue, called it “a miracle.’’
“She has been drifting amid huge waves for a long time without any food or water,’’ Pama said.
Although she was weak and could hardly speak due to a sore throat, Casumlum was upbeat and joked with reporters in a military hospital in southern Zamboanga city, telling them she had lost money at sea but found two small crabs in her pocket after her rescue.
“I just prayed. I thought of my family,’’ she said.
A massive air, land, and sea search will continue for the lone missing passenger, and a special coast guard ship has been deployed to check for signs of an oil spill, officials said.
Coast guard chief Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo said an investigation will begin this week to find out why the vessel - its power flickering on and off - sank off the southern province of Zamboanga del Norte province.
Tamayo said other passenger ferries of the Aboitiz Transport System, which owned the sunken vessel, will be confined to port so their seaworthiness can be checked.
Superferry 9 had left General Santos in the south on Saturday and was headed to Iloilo in the central Philippines.
Captain Jose Yap, who was among the survivors, issued the “abandon ship’’ order at 4:40 a.m. after the ferry started listing. The vessel, built in 1986 in Japan, sank six hours later.
