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'Titanic' saved their lives

by jayr_patron | June 24, 2008 at 05:11 pm

408 views | 10 Recommendations | 4 comments

Some films move societies. Others save lives. And despite its platitude, there are scenes in the movie 'Titanic' that have been key to their survival.

28 men and women drifted for more than 22 hours before reaching the shores of Mulanay, Quezon in the Philippines.

Ten of them were experienced seafarers who used their skills and knowledge to battle the forceful waves "as high as mountains".

For 23-year-old Jose Mari Garbo and company, their training and experience as seafarers equipped them with the necessary skills that helped them survive the ordeal which they went through after their ferry Princess of the Stars capsized off <?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = ST1 />Sibuyan Island in Romblon last Saturday.

“Unlike other passengers who jumped into the sea at a high elevation, I decided to wait for the ship to get closer to the sea before I decided to jump because I remembered in the movie ‘Titanic’ that some of the passengers who jumped at a higher elevation hit the ship’s railings. It was safer if I jumped closer to the sea,” Garbo said.

Garbo said that his companions, led by seafarer Rey Padin, 31, of Cebu City, pulled out a coiled fire hose and tied it to a steel pole.

The makeshift rope enabled them and the other passengers to hold on it while the ship was dangerously tilting on its left side.

“We knew that the ship was going to sink, considering the condition it was in,” Padin said in Filipino. “We had to do what we could.”

The seemingly dauntless sailors also had their moments of weakness and fear.

Garbo said that when the ship was starting to sink, he had to pinch his forehead to convince himself that he was not dreaming.

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Amy Judd

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 17:18 on June 24th, 2008

jayr_patron, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Amazing stories! Thanks for updating this story!

jayr_patron

at 17:28 on June 24th, 2008

Thanks for the flag amyjudd!

Amy Judd

at 17:48 on June 24th, 2008

Sadly, most of the other passengers did not survive:

No survivors were found Tuesday inside a capsized ferry in the Philippines after divers forced their way into the upturned hull of the ship that tipped over three days ago in a powerful typhoon.

Philippines rescue officials say 850 passengers and crew were aboard the MV Princess of the Stars when it capsized on Saturday. Fewer than 40 survived, including 28 who managed to get into a lifeboat in the stormy seas.

jayr_patron

at 00:55 on June 25th, 2008

22 days? Now that is one heck of a survival story. I can't even go through an hour without drinking a glass of water. Worse, I am afraid of the open water.

I've heard countless accounts of survival in the seas around the Philippines. There was a feature on Discovery Channel's Shark Week (or was that Nat Geo?) where a US Navy ship was sank by a Japanese submarine off the coast of Leyte island (where one of the greatest naval battles in history took place). The survival accounts were exceptional. However, those who didn't drown, unfortunately, were eaten by hundreds of sharks. Many of those clinging on to the inflatable lifeboats where slowly being eaten. And they had to go through this horror for days because nobody knew of their exact location.

Coincidentally, our house in the province of Bataan is near a refugee camp...junk boats from Vietnam drift across the South China Sea to that same beach where our house is situated.

Thanks for the flag!