COAST Guard investigators ruled out terrorist involvement in the explosion that killed three crew members of the mv Butuan Bay last May 15, while post-election tension still ran high.
But the Coast Guard and the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) are investigating further, to find out if international safety standards were defied.
The Marina has formed a two-man team to investigate the explosion inside the engine room.
Marina Administrator Vicente T. Suazo Jr. named investigators Arnio Santiago and Samuel Batalla to compose the team and ordered them to focus on the International Safety Manual (ISM) procedures and machineries to determine what caused the explosion.
For his part, Commodore Alejandro Flora of the Philippine Coast Guard has ruled out the possibility of terrorism, but the agency will dig deeper into what caused the blast, he said in a report aired by radio dyLA yesterday.
At least nine passengers were injured during the explosion that hit the vessel, which belongs to Carlos A. Gothong Lines Inc (CAGLI).
Early this year, another Gothong vessel, the mv Manila Bay 1, caught fire while undergoing renovation near Pier 7 in Cebu City last Feb. 12.
“Likewise, on the basis of two consecutive accidents involving vessels of CAGLI, there is a need for immediate and thorough inspection of the company’s fleet prior to their scheduled departure,” read Suazo’s Special Order 372-07.
The team, together with the technical personnel designated by Marina 7, shall also look at the recent survey of the vessel by private inspectors, Suazo said.
The other CAGLI vessels will be allowed to continue plying their routes once they are declared seaworthy by inspectors, he added.
Senior Supt. Lani-o Nerez, in a TV Patrol Cebu report, said they are also looking into other angles.
Marina 7 Director Glenn Cabañez said that although the Coast Guard is an agency deputized by Marina to implement maritime laws, it can reactivate the Board of Marine Inquiry and conduct its own investigation.
But Cabañez said it would be better for Marina and PCG to compare notes and come up with a joint report.
According to a report he received, Cabañez said, the mv Butuan Bay left Pier 7 for Ozamiz City at 7:30 p.m. but the explosion happened minutes later, while the vessel was still in the Mactan Channel.
All 513 passengers on the manifest were rescued and accounted for by 1 a.m. yesterday. Thick smoke from the engine room and the lack of lights delayed the rescue effort.
MV Butuan Bay was launched in 2002 and has been serving the Cebu-Ozamiz route since then.
MV Manila Bay 1, on the other hand, was launched in 2003 as a 1,064-passenger-capacity vessel. (EOB)
