December 20, 1987: The ferry MV Doña Paz collides with the oil tanker MT Vector in the Tablas Strait of their home country, the Philippines. With an estimated death toll of 4,386 people and only 24 survivors, it remains the deadliest peacetime maritime disaster in history.
Built by Onomichi Zosen of Hiroshima, Japan, the ship was launched on April 25, 1963 as the Himeyuri Maru, with a passenger capacity of 608. In October 1975, the Himeyuri Maru was bought by Sulpicio Lines, and renamed the Don Sulpicio. After a fire aboard in June 1979, the ship was refurbished and renamed Doña Paz.
Traveling from Leyte Island to the Philippine capital of Manila, the vessel was seriously overcrowded, with at least 2,000 passengers not listed on the manifest. It has also been claimed that the ship did not have a radio, and that the life jackets were locked away.
However, official blame was directed at the tanker Vector, which collided with the Doña Paz, and was found to be unseaworthy, and to be operating without a license, a lookout, or a qualified master.
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December 20, 1987 was a Sunday. Football star Malcolm Jenkins was born.
Baseball was out of season. These NFL games were played:
* The New York Jets lost to the Philadelphia Eagles, 38-27 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.
* The football version of the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 31-14 at Tampa Stadium. This was the next-to-last game for the "Big Red" before moving to Phoenix.
* The Miami Dolphins beat the Washington Redskins, 23-21 at Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.
* The Houston Oilers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 24-16 at the Astrodome in Houston.
* The New England Patriots beat the Buffalo Bills, 13-7 at Rich Stadium (formerly Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.
* The New Orleans Saints beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 41-24 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.
* The Seattle Seahawks beat the Chicago Bears, 34-21 at Soldier Field in Chicago.
* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Detroit Lions, 17-14 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.
* The Indianapolis Colts beat the San Diego Chargers, 20-7 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.
* The Cleveland Browns beat the Los Angeles Raiders, 24-17 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Atlanta Falcons, 35-7 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
* The day before, the New York Giants beat the Green Bay Packers, 20-10 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.
* Also the day before, the Denver Broncos beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 20-17 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.
* And the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Dallas Cowboys beat the Los Angeles Rams, 29-21 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).
There were 5 games played in the NBA:
* The Boston Celtics beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 124-87 at the Boston Garden.
* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Indiana Pacers, 127-116 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.
* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 103-94 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
* The Phoenix Suns beat the Sacramento Kings, 120-109 at the original ARCO Arena in Sacramento. Larry Nance Sr. led all scorers on the day with 45 points.
* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the San Antonio Spurs, 148-126 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum. Clyde Drexler scored 40 points.
There were 7 games in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins, 8-4 at Madison Square Garden.
* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Winnipeg Jets, 4-1 at the Winnipeg Arena.
* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-2 at the Colisée de Québec.
* The St. Louis Blues and the Washington Capitals played to a tie, 1-1 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Boston Bruins beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 4-2 at the Chicago Stadium.
* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Calgary Flames, 6-3 at the Saddledome in Calgary.
* And the Hartford Whalers and the Vancouver Canucks played to a tie, 3-3 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.
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