--- title: "MV Doña Paz: The Deadliest Maritime Disaster in History" description: "Shipping is one of the oldest industries in the world. Since basically the dawn of history, people have been gliding through the water in boats to get from one place to another. You would think all that time and experience would lend itself to some heightened standards of safety, especially after the very famous example of an \"unsinkable\" ship hitting an iceberg on its first voyage and sinking with thousands of people still on board. But where the Titanic was a kind of cinematically tragic, the story we have for you today is just… well, tragic. This is the story of the MV Doña Paz, the worst maritime disaster you've never heard of.\n\n## \"Lady Peace\"\n\nDoña Paz was built in 1963 in Onomichi, Japan, about 50km from Hiroshima. It would sail under the Japanese flag for twelve years, bearing the name *Himeyuri Maru*. This was the most uneventful period of its life, which is a good thing when it comes to ships. But things would soon change after the ship was sold to a Filipino passenger line named Sulpicio Lines, which is still around today under the name Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corporation.\n\nThe *Himeyuri Maru* entered service with Sulpicio Lines, originally being renamed to *Don Sulpicio* because… why not. But a few years afterwards is when the troubles began. On June 5, 1979, the ship caught fire in the middle of a voyage, with over a thousand passengers on board. While the ship was sailing under Japan, it had a maximum passenger capacity of 608; when this accident happened, there were 1,164 passengers on board. Already, we're almost double the nominally safe capacity for people on the ship.\n\nThankfully in this particular instance, all passengers and crew were rescued without any fatalities, although the ship was written off as a total loss. Sulpicio Lines didn't want to let it go, however, and proceeded to repurchase the ship, refurbish it, and return it to service after being renamed. This is when the ship officially becomes the *Doña Paz*. After it was returned to service, it sailed for many years without further incident, the worst seemingly behind it. But unfortunately, we're not done yet.\n\n## Fire in the Sea\n\nOn the night of December 20, 1987, the crew of a ship in the Tablas Strait witnessed a bright flash, far off in the distance. The sky was clear and the water was choppy; in the darkness, they both stood out against the light. The crew, correctly surmising that this flash was the result of an accident at sea and that people would need help, made their way towards it. After an hour of searching, they found twenty-six exhausted people adrift in the water and pulled them aboard. Disconcertingly, most of them were covered in burns, though their ship was nowhere to be found. Something very bad had clearly happened, but what, exactly?\n\nThe answer to that question would be pieced together over the coming weeks and months as investigations were conducted, survivors interviewed, and evidence collected. As it went on, what began as a tragedy slowly turned into a case study of total negligence.\n\nThe *Doña Paz* was sailing for Manila through the Tablas Strait when, at around 10:30 PM, it collided with another ship, the *MT Vector*. They could not have picked a worse ship to hit; the *Vector* was an oil tanker which was, at the time of collision, carrying 1,050,000 liters (1,041 metric tons) of gasoline. This gasoline immediately ignited upon collision with the *Doña Paz*, spreading fire into the water and soon onto the *Doña Paz*. At the time of the collision, only one apprentice crewman was on the bridge when the ships collided; the rest of the crew were partying, drinking or watching TV in their quarters, while the captain was watching a movie in his cabin. The lights on the *Doña Paz* had gone out minutes after the collision, and the crew of the *Doña Paz* made no attempts to organize the passengers. Total panic ensued, as passengers and crew struggled in total darkness and with no directions to get their bearings.\n\nIt became clear from the later investigation that the *Doña Paz* was not prepared whatsoever for an accident of this scale – or any scale, really. The most glaring safety risk was the fact that the vessel was extremely overcrowded. The *Doña Paz*, which was originally built to carry 608 passengers, was eventually determined to be carrying 4,341 passengers – over seven times the limit. According to interviews with survivors, passengers were sleeping in the corridors, on the decks, and in cots with three to four people each. Many of these passengers were not on the official manifest. As if the situation weren't bad enough, the life jackets – which were nowhere near enough to save everyone – were locked up in lockers which the crew did not open.\n\nAfter the lights went out, all semblance of order fell apart. Passengers resorted to leaping from the ship into the waters of the Tablas Strait, a body of water known for sharks. Now, it's rare for sharks to attack people, very rare in fact, and to our knowledge there were no recorded instances of shark attacks here. But sharks, like all animals, are unpredictable, and in a chaotic situation where hundreds of people are leaping and splashing into the water, where no one can even see what they're doing… it's not completely out of the blue.\n\nWhatever the case, the passengers leaping into the water used things like suitcases for makeshift floatation. The waters around the ships, at this point, were still burning from the ignited gasoline. Take a moment to just imagine the situation for the passengers, from start to finish; a loud noise waking you up, confusion as to what's happened, a crew that isn't helping you. Then, the lights go out, the ship is on fire, the water around the ship is on fire, everyone's panicking, and people are leaping from the deck into the flaming water without life vests. And you don't know it, but help isn't coming for several hours, if it's coming at all. Those survivors that were rescued at the start of this section? They were the ones who managed to swim away from the ship; it was still sinking as they were being rescued. But no one else would be rescued from the *Doña Paz*. It would sink two hours after the collision, and adding in the crews of both the *Vector* and the *Doña Paz*, it would take 4,386 people with it.\n\n## The Aftermath of Tragedy\n\nIn the immediate aftermath of the disaster, many heads of state offered their condolences to the people who lost loved ones in the sinking. It was later determined that the ship was so over capacity due to illegal ticket sales from people who were attempting to return home to families for the Christmas season, which is an extra twist of the knife in this sad story.\n\nIn dividing up the fault of the disaster, Sulpicio Lines was cleared of fault, largely due to the fact that the *Vector* was operating without a license or a lookout. The Philippine Supreme Court ruled that all of the victims' families, even the ones who were not on the official manifest, were entitled to financial indemnity, but money, safe to say, is hardly a consolation for such a loss.\n\n## Key Takeaways\n\n- The MV Doña Paz disaster in 1987 is the worst maritime tragedy few people know about.,The ship was overcrowded with 4,341 passengers, far exceeding its 608-person capacity.,The crew was unprepared and negligent, with most members off-duty during the collision.,The collision with the oil tanker MT Vector caused a massive fire, leading to panic and chaos.,The disaster resulted in 4,386 deaths, with many passengers jumping into burning waters without life jackets.\n\n## Frequently Asked Questions\n\n### What was the original name of the MV Doña Paz?\n\nThe original name of the MV Doña Paz was Himeyuri Maru.\n\n### When and where was the MV Doña Paz built?\n\nThe MV Doña Paz was built in 1963 in Onomichi, Japan.\n\n### What was the passenger capacity of the MV Doña Paz when it was sailing under Japan?\n\nThe MV Doña Paz had a maximum passenger capacity of 608 when it was sailing under Japan.\n\n### How many passengers were on board the MV Doña Paz during the fire in 1979?\n\nThere were 1,164 passengers on board the MV Doña Paz during the fire in 1979.\n\n### What was the cause of the collision between the MV Doña Paz and the MT Vector?\n\nThe collision was caused by the MT Vector operating without a license or a lookout.\n\n### How many people were on board the MV Doña Paz at the time of the collision?\n\nThe MV Doña Paz was carrying 4,341 passengers at the time of the collision.\n\n### What was the total number of fatalities in the MV Doña Paz disaster?\n\nThe total number of fatalities was 4,386, including the crews of both the Vector and the Doña Paz.\n\n### Why was the MV Doña Paz so over capacity?\n\nThe MV Doña Paz was so over capacity due to illegal ticket sales from people attempting to return home to families for the Christmas season.\n\n### What was the fate of Sulpicio Lines after the disaster?\n\nSulpicio Lines was cleared of fault in the disaster.\n\n### What did the Philippine Supreme Court rule regarding the victims' families?\n\nThe Philippine Supreme Court ruled that all of the victims' families, even those not on the official manifest, were entitled to financial indemnity.\n\n## Sources\n\n- [Original Side Projects video: MV Doña Paz: The Deadliest Maritime Disaster in History](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6j9evuYfwU)\n\n## Related Coverage" url: https://sideprojects.pub/article/mv-dona-paz-deadliest-maritime-disaster-history.md canonical: https://sideprojects.pub/article/mv-dona-paz-deadliest-maritime-disaster-history datePublished: 2021-02-02 dateModified: 2026-07-28 author: - name: Simon Whistler url: https://sideprojects.pub/author/simon-whistler publisher: Side Projects image: "https://media.sideprojects.pub/cdn-cgi/image/width=1600,height=900,fit=cover,quality=80,format=auto/articles/r6j9evuYfwU/hero.jpg" type: NewsArticle contentHash: 4d5a5c49260549a167ef8cc62267120686a4e1c7822ff5fc60aa5c1f120a7310 tokens: 2345 summaryUrl: https://sideprojects.pub/article/mv-dona-paz-deadliest-maritime-disaster-history.md.summary.md --- Shipping is one of the oldest industries in the world. Since basically the dawn of history, people have been gliding through the water in boats to get from one place to another. You would think all that time and experience would lend itself to some heightened standards of safety, especially after the very famous example of an "unsinkable" ship hitting an iceberg on its first voyage and sinking with thousands of people still on board. But where the Titanic was a kind of cinematically tragic, the story we have for you today is just… well, tragic. This is the story of the MV Doña Paz, the worst maritime disaster you've never heard of. ## "Lady Peace" Doña Paz was built in 1963 in Onomichi, Japan, about 50km from Hiroshima. It would sail under the Japanese flag for twelve years, bearing the name *Himeyuri Maru*. This was the most uneventful period of its life, which is a good thing when it comes to ships. But things would soon change after the ship was sold to a Filipino passenger line named Sulpicio Lines, which is still around today under the name Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corporation. The *Himeyuri Maru* entered service with Sulpicio Lines, originally being renamed to *Don Sulpicio* because… why not. But a few years afterwards is when the troubles began. On June 5, 1979, the ship caught fire in the middle of a voyage, with over a thousand passengers on board. While the ship was sailing under Japan, it had a maximum passenger capacity of 608; when this accident happened, there were 1,164 passengers on board. Already, we're almost double the nominally safe capacity for people on the ship. Thankfully in this particular instance, all passengers and crew were rescued without any fatalities, although the ship was written off as a total loss. Sulpicio Lines didn't want to let it go, however, and proceeded to repurchase the ship, refurbish it, and return it to service after being renamed. This is when the ship officially becomes the *Doña Paz*. After it was returned to service, it sailed for many years without further incident, the worst seemingly behind it. But unfortunately, we're not done yet. ## Fire in the Sea On the night of December 20, 1987, the crew of a ship in the Tablas Strait witnessed a bright flash, far off in the distance. The sky was clear and the water was choppy; in the darkness, they both stood out against the light. The crew, correctly surmising that this flash was the result of an accident at sea and that people would need help, made their way towards it. After an hour of searching, they found twenty-six exhausted people adrift in the water and pulled them aboard. Disconcertingly, most of them were covered in burns, though their ship was nowhere to be found. Something very bad had clearly happened, but what, exactly? The answer to that question would be pieced together over the coming weeks and months as investigations were conducted, survivors interviewed, and evidence collected. As it went on, what began as a tragedy slowly turned into a case study of total negligence. The *Doña Paz* was sailing for Manila through the Tablas Strait when, at around 10:30 PM, it collided with another ship, the *MT Vector*. They could not have picked a worse ship to hit; the *Vector* was an oil tanker which was, at the time of collision, carrying 1,050,000 liters (1,041 metric tons) of gasoline. This gasoline immediately ignited upon collision with the *Doña Paz*, spreading fire into the water and soon onto the *Doña Paz*. At the time of the collision, only one apprentice crewman was on the bridge when the ships collided; the rest of the crew were partying, drinking or watching TV in their quarters, while the captain was watching a movie in his cabin. The lights on the *Doña Paz* had gone out minutes after the collision, and the crew of the *Doña Paz* made no attempts to organize the passengers. Total panic ensued, as passengers and crew struggled in total darkness and with no directions to get their bearings. It became clear from the later investigation that the *Doña Paz* was not prepared whatsoever for an accident of this scale – or any scale, really. The most glaring safety risk was the fact that the vessel was extremely overcrowded. The *Doña Paz*, which was originally built to carry 608 passengers, was eventually determined to be carrying 4,341 passengers – over seven times the limit. According to interviews with survivors, passengers were sleeping in the corridors, on the decks, and in cots with three to four people each. Many of these passengers were not on the official manifest. As if the situation weren't bad enough, the life jackets – which were nowhere near enough to save everyone – were locked up in lockers which the crew did not open. After the lights went out, all semblance of order fell apart. Passengers resorted to leaping from the ship into the waters of the Tablas Strait, a body of water known for sharks. Now, it's rare for sharks to attack people, very rare in fact, and to our knowledge there were no recorded instances of shark attacks here. But sharks, like all animals, are unpredictable, and in a chaotic situation where hundreds of people are leaping and splashing into the water, where no one can even see what they're doing… it's not completely out of the blue. Whatever the case, the passengers leaping into the water used things like suitcases for makeshift floatation. The waters around the ships, at this point, were still burning from the ignited gasoline. Take a moment to just imagine the situation for the passengers, from start to finish; a loud noise waking you up, confusion as to what's happened, a crew that isn't helping you. Then, the lights go out, the ship is on fire, the water around the ship is on fire, everyone's panicking, and people are leaping from the deck into the flaming water without life vests. And you don't know it, but help isn't coming for several hours, if it's coming at all. Those survivors that were rescued at the start of this section? They were the ones who managed to swim away from the ship; it was still sinking as they were being rescued. But no one else would be rescued from the *Doña Paz*. It would sink two hours after the collision, and adding in the crews of both the *Vector* and the *Doña Paz*, it would take 4,386 people with it. ## The Aftermath of Tragedy In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, many heads of state offered their condolences to the people who lost loved ones in the sinking. It was later determined that the ship was so over capacity due to illegal ticket sales from people who were attempting to return home to families for the Christmas season, which is an extra twist of the knife in this sad story. In dividing up the fault of the disaster, Sulpicio Lines was cleared of fault, largely due to the fact that the *Vector* was operating without a license or a lookout. The Philippine Supreme Court ruled that all of the victims' families, even the ones who were not on the official manifest, were entitled to financial indemnity, but money, safe to say, is hardly a consolation for such a loss. ## Key Takeaways - The MV Doña Paz disaster in 1987 is the worst maritime tragedy few people know about.,The ship was overcrowded with 4,341 passengers, far exceeding its 608-person capacity.,The crew was unprepared and negligent, with most members off-duty during the collision.,The collision with the oil tanker MT Vector caused a massive fire, leading to panic and chaos.,The disaster resulted in 4,386 deaths, with many passengers jumping into burning waters without life jackets. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What was the original name of the MV Doña Paz? The original name of the MV Doña Paz was Himeyuri Maru. ### When and where was the MV Doña Paz built? The MV Doña Paz was built in 1963 in Onomichi, Japan. ### What was the passenger capacity of the MV Doña Paz when it was sailing under Japan? The MV Doña Paz had a maximum passenger capacity of 608 when it was sailing under Japan. ### How many passengers were on board the MV Doña Paz during the fire in 1979? There were 1,164 passengers on board the MV Doña Paz during the fire in 1979. ### What was the cause of the collision between the MV Doña Paz and the MT Vector? The collision was caused by the MT Vector operating without a license or a lookout. ### How many people were on board the MV Doña Paz at the time of the collision? The MV Doña Paz was carrying 4,341 passengers at the time of the collision. ### What was the total number of fatalities in the MV Doña Paz disaster? The total number of fatalities was 4,386, including the crews of both the Vector and the Doña Paz. ### Why was the MV Doña Paz so over capacity? The MV Doña Paz was so over capacity due to illegal ticket sales from people attempting to return home to families for the Christmas season. ### What was the fate of Sulpicio Lines after the disaster? Sulpicio Lines was cleared of fault in the disaster. ### What did the Philippine Supreme Court rule regarding the victims' families? The Philippine Supreme Court ruled that all of the victims' families, even those not on the official manifest, were entitled to financial indemnity. ## Sources - [Original Side Projects video: MV Doña Paz: The Deadliest Maritime Disaster in History](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6j9evuYfwU) ## Related Coverage