Thursday, November 30, 2006 Board to hold probe on vessel's sinking By Ben Serrano Caraga Correspondent
SURIGAO CITY -- Unlike the land transportation system, which has weight bridges to measure exact weight, the maritime public transport system of the country has no gadgets or systems to determine overloading of wooden passenger boats, the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) local office here said.
But Marina said passenger and cargo boats or vessels made of steel have a system to determine whether they are already overloaded or not.
Authorities have yet to determine whether the MB Leonida II that sank in between Punta Cili and Hailan Island on November 25 afternoon was overloaded or not.
Official Marine Protest duly sworn in by the boat's captain Ruel Del Rosario claimed that MB Leonida II was loaded with 48 passengers, 300 bags of cement, 15 sacks of rice, 37 boxes of cigarettes and 10 crewmembers and relatives.
In his sworn testimony, Del Rosario said a big wave caused by a sea current from the Northwestern Hailan Island and strong winds converged with each other and hit the boat, which caused it to immediately tilt to the right before capsizing.
Survivors claimed overloading of cargoes and the speed of the watercraft plus strong winds and waves caused the boat to capsize.
Marina officer-in-charge Maria Roselyn Castaño of Surigao City office said the Board of Marine Inquiry will conduct a separate investigation into the incident.
She said it will investigate why the local coast guard personnel assigned that time at MB Leonida II failed to monitor the manifest and the actual passengers aboard the ill-fated ship.
The manifest of the boat as gathered by personnel of Leonida Shipping Lines, which owned and operated the boat, only had 48 number of passengers listed.
As of Wednesday, there are 66 survivors, 20 missing, and 14 dead listed by the operation center in this city.
Castaño said Leonida Shipping Lines, which is owned by couple Domingo and Leonida Paredes, is the registered owner at Marina. Leonida is the President of the Surigao del Norte Boat Owner's Federation.
Survivors and relatives of the dead and missing victims, despite their earlier pronouncement, have so far not filed formal charges against the boat captain and owners of the MB Leonida II.
But the daughter of Del Carmen Mayor Arlencita Navarro, who is one of the 20 passengers missing, claimed she will consult other members of the family in their plan to file charges against the boat captain and owner.
She also voiced hopes that her mother had survived the tragedy even if she later admitted that the latter doesn't know how to swim.
