By TRINA LAGURA
abs-cbnNEWS.com

For Vanessa Garon, no amount of training could prepare her for what she saw when she dived into the waters of Romblon to search and retrieve the bodies of passengers trapped inside the capsized MV Princess of the Stars.

“It’s like you could almost feel their panic, you could almost see what they were going through in the last minutes of their lives,” Garon said in an ANC interview.

There were palm prints on the windows and countless of bodies stuck together in one area of the shipwreck, while some of the victims even had ropes tied around them.

“Down below the wreck, it was very dark. We always needed to use flashlights, and the visibility wasn’t good. From where I could see, an opening in a window, there were lots of bodies… and it wasn’t really a very beautiful sight,” she said.

Garon is a member of the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary, a civilian support group of the PCG. Along with sister Alexandra, she joined the search, rescue and retrieval operations conducted near the capsized ferry off Sibuyan Island.

She and her sister were the only female divers in the group.

Garon said she and her sister had reached the depth of between 88 and 90 feet and were able to penetrate the the ferry through the dining area.

During their second dive, they waited outside the wreck while other divers went inside to recover the bodies. Their task was to bring to the surface the recovered bodies as the others continued the search.

It was while waiting that she saw victims’ palm prints on the windows.

Not like this

Seeing bodies is not new for Garon. She also joined the retrieval operations when SuperFerry 14 sank after it was bombed on Feb. 27, 2004.

“At that time, I kinda knew what to expect, but with this incident, I saw more dead bodies than the ones at SuperFerry 14,” she said.

“It’s kinda hard to prepare yourselves for a situation like that. You go in thinking you have to be prepared for anything, but the moment we arrived [in Sibuyan], the first thing that met us was a body floating in the water and the smell of decomposing bodies,” she added.

Dangers

Garon is aware of the dangers the divers face every time they go into the water. Aside from the bad weather, the debris from the shipwreck also poses danger to the divers.

She said the divers were lucky that the ocean was quiet, the waves were not as rough and the underwater current was not as strong during the retrieval operations.

The debris, however, is another story. Garon recalled that some debris fell on the head of one of the volunteer divers, an American, as they were looking for bodies inside the ship.

Thus, she said, the divers have to be careful when swimming inside the ferry.

The discovery of highly-toxic endosulfan also placed the lives of the divers in danger. Authorities pulled out the divers and subjected them to a series of medical tests upon learning about the toxic cargo.

Garon said Sulpicio Lines Inc., owner of the upturned MV Princess of the Stars, should have informed them early on about the existence of the cargo.

“It angered me to a point wherein the people should have spoken up earlier. They should have done that because there’s already a big tragedy at hand. Why add more to something like this?” she said.

The retrieval operations have been suspended temporarily until the container with 10 tons of the toxic chemical is pulled out from the capsized ferry.

Strengthens faith

Garon said the experience has strengthened not only her faith but the faith of other divers as well.

“When faced with a situation like that you, can’t help but be thankful you’re alive and at that same time, pray for the people down there,” she said.

During the retrieval operations, one of the divers found a rosary on the floor “and right away, he wore the rosary feeling that it would somehow keep him safe.”

Garon said hopefully, the sea tragedy would force authorities to review the guidelines and safety measures currently being imposed to avoid an incident like this in the future.

“I guess in this situation, I can’t help but think that maybe these people tragically died because, after this I’m sure, everything will be reviewed… We can only hope. At least, we at the Auxiliary will do our part to help in this mission of making vessels safer at sea the best way we can,” she said.

Source : http://www.abs-cbnnews.com