The Doña Paz tragedy 25 years on
Twenty-five years ago today, the 20th of December, the Philippine ferry Doña Paz sank after colliding with the oil tanker Vector. At least 4,341 persons died as a result, but who cares to remember? Filipinos have rather short memories. No memorial erected for the victims. And certainly no film made about the tragedy that killed almost thrice as many as the sinking of the Titanic. Even so, the Doña Paz is part of the maritime legacy of a world that continues to grapple with sea accidents. Though many don’t see, it juts out from the horizon like a ghost in mankind’s spiritual seascape. ~Barista Uno
Seascape at Saintes-Maries (Fishing Boats at Sea), 1888, by Dutch post-Impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh
