CALAPAN CITY: A 13-year-old girl survived the fire that broke out in the passenger ship MV John Aster by squeezing through a small opening and finding a door before jumping into the sea as thick black smoke filled the vessel.
The girl, who was traveLling with her uncle from Manila, said she initially stayed close to him as the fire and smoke spread through the ship.
“I held on to his shirt at his back,” she recalled, saying she eventually had difficulty breathing because of the thick smoke.
The girl said she found a small gap through which she was able to squeeze in.
“It was small but i was able to fit,” she said.
The girl crawled through the opening and eventually saw a door.
“I was flat on the floor as I made my way out until I saw a door and jumped out,” she said.
The girl said the floor was extremely hot, and her feet suffered burns.
She hesitated before jumping into the water because of the height, but eventually overcame her fears to save herself.
The girl said she swam for about three minutes toward a kayak in the water where she found other survivors. The young survivor said she was assisted by the chief engineer.
She said the kayak took around two hours to reach shore.
The ordeal, however, was made more painful by the disappearance of her uncle, the girl said.
“I couldn’t see my uncle,” she said.
Her uncle has yet to be accounted for, according to the family.
Aside from 13 passengers classified as missing, 76 have been confirmed to have died while 43 survived. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
