The Bocaue Pagoda tragedy was a fatal accident that occurred on July 2, 1993 during the Bocaue River Festival in Bocaue, Bulacan, in the Philippines. The accident involved a sinking of the floating pagoda, the centerpiece of the festivities, which resulted in the drowning of more than 200 devotees.
Background
The Bocaue River Festival is an annual celebration held every first Sunday of July in Bocaue, Bulacan, in the Philippines, in honor of the Holy Cross, the Mahal na Poon ng Krus sa Wawa, found in 1850 in the Bocaue River, a tributary of the Santa Maria River. The festivities involve a decorated pagoda on top of a barge surrounded by small boats accompanying it. A replica of the holy cross is placed at the top of the pagoda.
The incident
The pagoda for the 1993 celebrations was estimated to be boarded by 800 to 1000 devotees. At 8:15 p.m, the accident occurred taking the lives of at least 266 people. The pagoda sank in the middle of the Bocaue River between the barangays Bunlo and Bambang. The pagoda was 20 feet tall. According to witnesses many of the people on board the pagoda were forced to move to one side of the barge reacting to a kwitis flying towards the pagoda. The concentrated weight of the people on board tilted the barge. The people on board the pagoda panicked as they heard the noise of crackling timber. The structure of the pagoda collapsed and gradually sank to the riverbed. Witnesses further claimed that fishermen by the river bank drew their fishing boats towards the sinking pagoda to help save people from the pagoda. The pagoda's light was still on and its power generator was still operational as the pagoda sank causing many people to believe that electrocution caused some of the fatalities. Thirteen-year-old Sahjid S. Bulig and his friend Richard Celestino, both members of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, were able to save eight children who were on the pagoda, with Bulig saving six from continuously returning to the pagoda despite Celestino's warnings. In the morning after the incident, Bulig was found to have perished.
Aftermath
Retrieval operations for the victims took for several days. Victims were checked for vital signs in different area hospitals. The bodies of the fatalities were identified at the town plaza and the basketball court served as a morgue. The casualties of the incident were believed to have involved entire families. On October 31, 1993, the BSP posthumously awarded Bulig with the Gold Medal of Honor while they awarded Celestino with the Silver Medal of Honor, both for their heroic deeds in the tragedy. In the same year, the Department of the Interior and Local Government created the Sahjid Bulig Presidential Award for Heroism, in honor of Bulig's actions and sacrifice.
1994 festival and hiatus
1994 celebrations for the Bocaue River Festival were sized down. The new pagoda made was just 2 feet tall compared to 1993's 4 feet tall pagoda. Only 50 people were allowed to board the raft. 12 boats accompanied the pagoda. The police and military lifeguards stationed on positions along the route of the pagoda procession. The event took place in the morning which commenced at 10:00 am. Relatives of the 1993 tragedy floated flowers and candles on the river to honor their loved ones. A mass was also held for the victims. The date July 2 after the tragedy, became a day of mourning for the victims of the 1993 tragedy.
Church and local officials decided to revive the grand procession and building of a large pagoda for the 2014 edition of the festival after coming up with safety measures for the devotees. The decision is a bid to boost the local economy of Bocaue. A 48-foot or three stories-high pagoda which stands on top of three large boats rented from Malabon was built for the 2014 Bocaue River Festival. The ground floor of the pagoda covered 200 square meters. The wooden pagoda was reinforced by steel. Only 150 devotees were allowed to board the pagoda at a time and each devotee was required to register and wear a lifevest. It was previously announced that 250 devotees were to be allowed to board the pagoda.
