The biggest ship collision ever recorded at sea is the 1987 catastrophe, involving a Philippine passenger ferry, Dona Paz and the oil tanker MT Vector, in the Tablas Strait, near Manila, Philippines. Image Credits: Wikipedia On the night of December 20, 1987, MV DonaPaz was sailing from Tacloban, Leyte, to Manila with thousands of passengers, surpassing its capacity since it was the Christmas season. Of all the people onboard both vessels, just 26 lived, 24 from the Dona Paz ferry and 2 from Vector, taking the total death toll to 4386, the highest for any peacetime maritime disaster caused by a ship collision at sea. Some even refer to this disaster as ‘Asia’s Titanic’, and it is the deadliest ship collision in maritime history, in terms of lives lost. Unfolding of the Biggest Ship Collision At Sea At around 10:30 p.m., while crossing the Tablas Strait close to Dumali Point, Marinduque, the ferry collided with the oil tanker MT Vector, loaded with 8800 barrels of petroleum products. The tanker was sailing from Bataan to Masbate. During the collision, most passengers were asleep, and though the weather was clear and the visibility was good, the sea was choppy. After the impact, the cargo of gasoline and petroleum products onboard the tanker caught fire and led to a blast. The flames spread rapidly, consuming both vessels. Survivor Accounts Philippine Constabulary corporal Luthgardo Niedo stated that the lights went out after the explosion, and there was complete darkness. They could not find life vests, and the crew panicked, without giving any clear instructions to the passengers about evacuation. As fire and panic engulfed everyone, lifeboats could not be launched. Survivors reported a chaotic scene onboard the ferry, with passengers crowding the corridors in darkness and desperately trying to escape the fire and the toxic fumes. Hundreds of people who made it to the decks jumped into the sea, however, they did not know that the water was also ablaze due to the spilt fuel from the MT Vector. They used suitcases and other things to keep them afloat. Many swam among the burnt bodies and sustained third-degree burns, and some even described seeing the skin being peeled from those around them, a truly horrifying sight. Another survivor, Valeria Duma, who was 14 at the time of the incident, later said that she had not been counted among the rescued. The youngest known survivor of the biggest collision ever recorded at sea was a 4-year-old boy. All crew members of the Dona Paz ferry died, so only passenger accounts are available. On the other hand, two crew members of the tanker MT Vector survived as they had been asleep when the collision occurred. Dona Paz sank in less than two hours, while Vector sank about 4 hours after the collision. Rescue operations were late, as it took 8 hours before the authorities got to know about the collision and another 8 hours to begin the search and rescue efforts. Investigation Findings The ships collided in clear weather with good visibility, while both were moving at slow speeds in the open sea, raising questions about how the events unfolded and why they happened. Investigation revealed that the MT Vector oil tanker was unseaworthy and was sailing without a licence and with an underqualified crew. Its rudder was defective and needed two men to steer it. There was no proper lookout or a well-qualified and experienced master on the vessel. Similar findings were reported from the Ferry Dona Paz. Just an app