Liveaboard Sinks Off Tubbataha Reef

[Tassie_Rohan]

Interesting design: there are 10 aircon units on the port side alone, and probably the same to starboard: with the enclosed decks it looks like, and probably has the handling of, a floating refrigerator.

I guess there's a market catering for folks who wish to dive the tropics without being inconvenienced by a tropical climate...

 

[Dan]

Indeed. I've been on skinnier boat (White Manta with 46/10 length/width ratio) than this M/Y Dream Keeper (39/9) and yet felt more stable during rough weather, due to lower profile above water.

White Manta Diving - New White Manta

www.whitemanta.com

View attachment 782024View attachment 782025
White Manta courtesy of Whitemanta.com

From the above pictures, the top of the Dream Keeper is about 11.0 m from the sea surface versus 8.4 m for White Manta.

 

[Dan]

4 passengers of ill-fated yacht still missing in Tubbataha

INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO PUERTO PRINCESA CITY — Days after dive yacht M/Y Dream Keeper sank in the waters of Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park on April 30, search and rescue teams have yet to find its

newsinfo.inquirer.net

“Coast Guard District Palawan district commander Captain Dennis Rem Labay said in a private message that the four may have been trapped inside the yacht that sank some 1,000-1,500 meters under water at the north atoll of the park. He told reporters that the boat sank some 4 nautical miles northeast of the reefs’ north atoll.The four missing are a Chinese male, a female dive master, and two guests (a male and a female).”

 

[Pearlman]

Sad. This should have been close to the first dive briefing time on a Liveaboard close to 7am with everybody on the upper decks. Looks like the storm meant some unfortunate souls retired to their rooms when it suddenly sank thus trapping them… ?!

 

[O-ring]

4 passengers of ill-fated yacht still missing in Tubbataha

INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO PUERTO PRINCESA CITY — Days after dive yacht M/Y Dream Keeper sank in the waters of Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park on April 30, search and rescue teams have yet to find its

newsinfo.inquirer.net

“Coast Guard District Palawan district commander Captain Dennis Rem Labay said in a private message that the four may have been trapped inside the yacht that sank some 1,000-1,500 meters under water at the north atoll of the park. He told reporters that the boat sank some 4 nautical miles northeast of the reefs’ north atoll.The four missing are a Chinese male, a female dive master, and two guests (a male and a female).”

I was kind of wondering why they hadn't reported that the wreck had been searched and no bodies were found and that's why the search was ongoing, but I naively assumed diving depths and had no idea she was so deep. They will need an ROV at this point from the sound of it.

 

[Rick Brant]

The good news is that it does not sound like it landed on a reef.

 

[Dan]

The good news is that it does not sound like it landed on a reef.

If it’s grounded on reef, all of them would have been rescued then.

 

[Dan]

P5-M reward offered to find missing Chinese passenger of sunken dive yacht

In a letter sent to the Manila Bulletin, a certain Chloe Chou, who introduced herself as the wife of 37-year-old Yang Dengke, appealed for help so she could find his husband.

mb.com.ph

"A P5-million (~ $90,000) reward was offered to anyone who could provide any information on the whereabouts of a Chinese passenger who went missing when dive yacht M/Y Dream Keeper sank off Tubbataha, Palawan earlier this week.
....
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) told the Manila Bulletin on Friday, May 4, that search and rescue (SAR) operations were still on-going to find the four missing passengers of M/Y Dream Keeper."

 

[Norwegian Cave Diver]

I would expect that when the survivors get home we may hear some details for the ordeal.

 

[Jonn]

30 individuals on board

15 crew, 12 guests, 5 divemasters

28 rescued, 4 missing

Counting divers on the boat is notoriously difficult but something’s not adding up here.