Friday, January 04, 2008
Motor banca capsizes; 7 rescued
THE alert crew of an oil tanker rescued seven people whose motor banca capsized in bad weather off Cordova town in Mactan Island yesterday morning.
The mb Jay Paul, a motorized boat from Cuaming Island in Inabanga town, Bohol, was in the vicinity off the Lauis Ledge when it ran into big waves and powerful winds past 7 a.m.
The waves broke one of the boat’s outriggers, causing it to flip in the Hilu-tungan channel. A certain Flaviano Manalon reportedly owns the motorboat.
The passengers, mostly young students, held on tightly to the capsized wooden banca for three hours until the passing tanker Maginoo came to their aid.
The oil tanker of Herma Shipping and Transport Corp. based in Quezon City came from Bataan and was on its way to the Ludo and Luym wharf in Cebu City.
Capt. Rolando Legaspi, Coast Guard (CG) Central Eastern District deputy chief, said the rescued passengers were scheduled to attend a church wedding in Cordova.
Upon hearing the radio call, the CG sent two rubber boats to the scene and safely ferried the survivors to the Cebu City pier.
Legaspi identified them as Arnold, 44, Michael, 13, and Junrey, 11, all surnamed Saldua; Sanora Menguito, 19; Mary Jane Ababon, 14; Iris Guias, 14; and Melchora Daanglangit, 15.
They were temporarily taking shelter at the Cebu CG headquarters as of yesterday afternoon.
Docked at last
Meanwhile, all the 924 passengers of mv Heaven Star, of Roble Shipping Lines, safely arrived at Cebu City pier after they got stranded at sea last Wednesday.
Legaspi said the ferry conked out off Isabel and Merida, Leyte, less an hour after it left Ormoc City port at 11:45 p.m.
A preliminary investigation showed that the bunker fuel of the vessel got diluted with water, breaking down its engine, he said.
The ship crew, who provided meals to the passengers, tried to restart the vessel, to no avail.
Management decided to send the mv Wonderful Stars, its newest ship, which towed the other ferry back to Ormoc past midnight yesterday.
The same vessel left Ormoc at 3:30 a.m., ferrying all the passengers, 16 of whom are children and five infants, to Cebu City. The ship finally arrived at Pier 4 at 8 a.m.
After the incident, the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) 7 has suspended the passenger ship safety certificate of the mv Heaven Star.
“We issued the suspension of the safety certificate because the engine trouble suggests that the ship is not seaworthy anymore,” Director Glenn Cabañez said.
However, the suspension order may be lifted if an inspection by Marina’s safety engineers shows that the seaworthiness of the vessel has been restored, he added.
Because all the other vessels of Roble Shipping have been issued safety certificates, these are presumed to be seaworthy. (GC/EOB)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (January 4, 2008 issue)
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