2004 SuperFerry 14 bombing
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MV ''SuperFerry 14'' was a Philippine registered
roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...
(ro-ro)
ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...
that was attacked on February 27, 2004 by
terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
group Abu Sayyaf that resulted in the destruction of the ferry and the deaths of 116 people in the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
' deadliest terrorist attack. Six children less than five years old, and nine children between six and 16 years of age were among the dead or missing, including six students on a championship team sent by schools in northern
Mindanao Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...
to compete in a journalism contest.


Background

MV ''SuperFerry 14'' was built by Hayashikane Shipbuilding and Engineering Company Ltd. in
Shimonoseki is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. With a population of 265,684, it is the largest city in Yamaguchi Prefecture and the fifth-largest city in the Chūgoku region. It is located at the southwestern tip of Honshu facing the Tsushim ...
,
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
in February 1981 as the ''White Sanpo 2'' ( ja, ほわいとさんぽう2) for the Japanese company Sanpo Kaiun K.K. ( ja, 三宝海運) and was transferred to Ehime Hanshin Ferry ( ja, 愛媛阪神フェリー) in 1997. She had three passenger decks and a single car deck which was accessible by ramps at the bow and the stern, a common feature of a RoPax Ferry. She had extensive passenger facilities and had a luxurious interior. She featured a twin ''
QE2 ''Queen Elizabeth 2'' (''QE2'') is a retired British ocean liner converted into a floating hotel. Originally built for the Cunard Line, the ship, named as the second ship named ''Queen Elizabeth'', was operated by Cunard as both a transatlantic ...
'' inspired funnel. She was painted with a giant phoenix on the side of the hull. She was 155.6 meters long, 23.6 meters wide, and had a depth of 13.0 meters. She had a gross tonnage of 10,181.77. She was eventually sold to WG&A in the year 2000 where she was renamed the MV ''SuperFerry 14''. At the time of her service in the Philippines, her interior was more opulent than what is normally found in a domestic ferry. WG&A marketed her differently to distinguish herself from other ferries in its class.


Bombing

On the night of February 26, the 10,192-ton ferry sailed out of
Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
for
Cagayan de Oro City Cagayan ( ), officially the Province of Cagayan ( ilo, Probinsia ti Cagayan; ibg, Provinsiya na Cagayan; itv, Provinsiya ya Cagayan; fil, Lalawigan ng Cagayan), is a province in the Philippines located in the Cagayan Valley region, covering ...
via
Bacolod Bacolod, officially the City of Bacolod (; hil, Dakbanwa/Syudad sang Bacolod; fil, Lungsod ng Bacolod), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the region of Western Visayas, Philippines. It is the capital of the province of Negros Occidenta ...
and
Iloilo City Iloilo City, officially the City of Iloilo ( hil, Siyudad/Dakbanwa sang Iloilo; fil, Lungsod ng Iloilo), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines on the island of Panay. It is the capital city of t ...
with 899 recorded passengers and crew aboard. A
television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
set containing a 3.6-kilogram (8-pound) TNT bomb had been placed on board in the lower, more-crowded decks. An hour after its 11 p.m. sailing, just off either El Fraile or Corregidor Island an explosion tore through the vessel, starting a fire that engulfed the ship. Captain Ceferino Manzo issued the order to abandon ship at about 1:30 a.m., February 27. As the fire spread across the vessel most of the survivors jumped into the sea or boarded rescue boats. By February 29, officials had accounted for 565 of the 744 recorded passengers and all but two of the 155 crew members. In the days following the blast, the recovery of the dead and missing, calculated at around 180 on February 29, was slow. Officials stated the missing may have been trapped inside the blazing ferry, have drowned in Manila Bay and that others may have been picked up by fishing boats. The recovery of bodies took several months, with only four bodies recovered by Coast Guard divers from the half-submerged ferry in the first week, despite it having been towed to shallower waters near Mariveles town, west of
Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
. At least another 12 bodies, some displaying blast injuries, were recovered by divers in the days up until the 7th. Eventually, 63 bodies were recovered while another 53 remained missing, presumed dead.


Investigation

Despite claims from various terrorist groups, the blast was initially thought to have been an accident, caused by a gas explosion. Sabotage was initially ruled out. However, at the marine board of inquiry hearing in late March 2004, a safety supervisor with the ship's owner, WG&A, testified that about 150 survivors told him an explosion took place in the tourist section around the general area of bunk 51. The Captain of the ferry, Ceferino Manzo, testified in the same hearing that the entire tourist section was engulfed in "thick black smoke hatsmelled like gunpowder." After divers righted the ferry, five months after it sank, they found evidence of a bomb blast. A man named Redondo Cain Dellosa, a
Rajah Sulaiman Movement The Rajah Sulaiman Movement was an organization in the Philippines, founded by Ahmed Santos in 1991.Abu Sayyaf group. He held a ticket on the ferry for bunk 51B, where the bomb was placed, and disembarked before the ship's departure. President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal Arroyo (, born April 5, 1947), often referred to by her initials GMA, is a Filipino academic and politician serving as one of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines, House Deputy Spe ...
announced on October 11, 2004, that investigators had concluded that the explosion had been caused by a bomb. She said six suspects had been arrested in connection with the bombing and that the masterminds,
Khadaffy Janjalani Khadaffy Abubakar Janjalani (also transliterated as Khadafy Janjalani, Khadafi Janjalani and Khaddafi Janjalani; March 3, 1975 – September 4, 2006) was the leader of the Moro militant group known as Abu Sayyaf and the leader of one of its ...
and
Abu Sulaiman Jainal Antel Sali Jr. (June 1, 1964 – January 16, 2007) was a senior leader of Abu Sayyaf, an Islamist terrorist organization affiliated with Al Qaeda. Born in Zamboanga City, Mindanao, in Philippines, Sali was also known as The Engineer, an ...
, were still at large. It was believed that Abu Sayyaf bombed ''Superferry 14'' because the company that owned it, WG&A, did not comply with a letter demanding $1 million in
protection money A protection racket is a type of racket and a scheme of organized crime perpetrated by a potentially hazardous organized crime group that generally guarantees protection outside the sanction of the law to another entity or individual from viol ...
. The vessel was later raised and sold for scrap.


Arrest and deportation

Ruben Omar Pestano Lavilla, Jr., a listed terrorist of U.S. State Department, and founder of
Philippine The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
terror group
Rajah Sulaiman Movement The Rajah Sulaiman Movement was an organization in the Philippines, founded by Ahmed Santos in 1991.Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
on July 24, 2008. Anti-Terrorism Council Chairman
Eduardo Ermita Eduardo R. Ermita (born July 13, 1935) is a former Executive Secretary (Philippines), Executive Secretary of the Philippines and former spokesperson for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Ermita took his Defense Resource Management Course at the Na ...
announced that Lavilla, the alleged mastermind of the Superferry 14 bombing, was deported from Bahrain to the Philippines on August 30. Included in the sanctioned list of the
United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the Organs of the United Nations, six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international security, international peace and security, recommending the admi ...
, the RSM leader was also implicated in the February 14, 2005 bombings at
Glorietta Glorietta is a shopping mall complex in the Ayala Center, Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines. The mall is owned by Ayala Land and operated through its subsidiary, the Ayala Malls. The mall is divided into five sections (named Glorietta 1–5) and ...
, and has pending murder case before the
Makati Makati ( ), officially the City of Makati ( fil, Lungsod ng Makati), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. Makati is the financial center of the Philippines; it has the highest concentration ...
Regional Trial Court for the bombings.


See also

* SuperFerry *
Rizal Day bombings The Rizal Day bombings, also referred to as the December 30 bombings, were a series of bombings that occurred around Metro Manila in the Philippines on December 30, 2000. The explosions occurred within a span of a few hours, killing 22 people a ...
*
2016 Davao City bombing A bombing at a night market occurred in Davao City, Philippines, on September 2, 2016, causing at least 14 deaths and 70 injuries. On September 13, 2016, one of those injured, a pregnant woman, died, bringing the death toll up to 15. Militant ...
*
List of terrorist incidents, 2004 This is a timeline of incidents in 2004 that have been labelled as "terrorism" and are not believed to have been carried out by a government or its forces (see state terrorism and state-sponsored terrorism). List guidelines * To be included, ent ...
*
List of maritime disasters in the Philippines Below is a list of the most notable deadliest maritime incidents or tragedies in the Philippines. List of maritime incidents # Data are based from threcordsof the Board of Marine Inquiry of the Philippine Coast Guard, unless taken and supported ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Superferry 14 Maritime incidents in the Philippines Terrorist incidents against shipping Terrorist incidents in the Philippines in 2004 2004 crimes in the Philippines Maritime incidents in 2004 Shipwrecks in the South China Sea Ship bombings Mass murder in 2004 Moro conflict History of Metro Manila 21st century in Manila Abu Sayyaf attacks Islamic terrorist incidents in 2004