|
Friday, February 03, 2006
Tourism head, staff caught in ship trouble
By Lizanilla J. Amarga
A SEA vessel carrying some 400 passengers, including children, from Cagayan de Oro City to Iloilo City and then to Manila was forced to a dead stop in the middle of the dark waters of Bayawan, Negros Oriental at 3:30 a.m. Thursday after smoke came out of its cargo bay area.
Among the passengers of Negros Navigation m/v St. Joseph the Worker were Department of Tourism (DOT) 10 Regional Director Catalino Chan, his staff Desius Esmeralda, Rubelyn Yap, Bols Manalo, Nancy Dequito, and a balikbayan from San Antonio, Texas, USA.
They were in a Familiarization Tour for the areas of Negros, Bacolod, Iloilo, Boracay, and Guimaras, among others.
Negros Navigation Mindanao passenger officer Randy Vañes told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro Thursday they could not as yet determine the cause of the smoke.
"We are still investigating what actually happened," he said.
Nevertheless, he reported that the vessel is already on its way to Manila after stopping at the cities of Bacolod and Iloilo Thursday.
Vañes said the report that there was smoke was reported to their office around 3:40 a.m. and that the captain and their crew immediately made sure that everything and everyone was all right.
He said they immediately asked the passengers to don on their life vests and proceed to the information counter for any instruction.
The Negros Navigation m/v St. Joseph the Worker vessel was here in Cagayan de Oro City last Wednesday and left the Macabalan ports for Bacolod city around 5:45 p.m.
It was supposed to dock at the Bacolod port around 7 a.m. Thursday and arrive in Iloilo at 10 a.m. on the same day but was delayed. It was supposed to arrive in Manila at around 9:00 a.m. Friday.
In a separate interview, Chan said there was smoke but it did not come from the engine room.
He said the captain told them to don their life jackets and proceed to the information counter.
He added that they were made to wear their life vests for almost an hour until the ship crew was fully certain that everything was in order.
"Pero okay nami tanan....wala man hinooy na unsa pud (We are alright...no one was injured or anything)," he said.
Esmeraldas said, "We are okay...there was a fire at the back part of the boat but it was isolated."
Chan lauded the Negros Navigation vessel crew's handling of the entire incident.
"They (Negros Navigation ship crew) were all calm. Nobody panicked and the lights never went out," he said. "Everything was professionally carried out."
(February 3, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
|
