Saturday, February 16, 2008 2 Cebu boats sink amid foul weather By GARRY CABOTAJE Sun.Star Staff Reporter With Elias O. Baquero
FOUL weather caused a beer-ladenbarge to capsize in the seas off Sorsogon Province last Thursday and nearly sank a motorized passenger boat yesterday in Bohol.
Ship captain Nathaniel Latorena was missing when the LCT Don Wilfredo, a 996.27-gross ton barge, keeled over in the seawaters off Barangay Buhang, Bulusan in Sorsogon Province at 8:30 p.m.
The accident happened four days after the vessel left Mandaue City, Cebu.
In Bohol, all 29 passengers of mb Clemer, a passenger boat of Ernesto Sacobos, were safely transferred to four boats off Cabul-an Island.
Capt. Rolando Legaspi, Coast Guard Central Eastern Visayas (CGCEV) deputy chief, said that LCT Don Wilfredo left Mandaue City last Sunday, carrying 76,744 cases of beer and 780 plastic pallets.
The vessel was supposed to deliver the cargo to Legazpi City.
Quoting a CG report in Sorsogon, Legaspi said the barge capsized when it turned back on orders of Latorena. The barge was reportedly seen barely 100 meters off the shoreline of Bulusan.
Apart from Latorena, John Paul Jidas, a crewman, was also reported missing after the mishap.
But the PNP of Matnog, Sorsogon reported to the CG that Jidas has already shown up at the local police station, he said.
As of yesterday, both the Philippine Navy and CG authorities were still looking for the missing barge skipper.
Meanwhile, the mb Clemer reportedly drifted to the shallow waters off Cabul-an Island hours after all its passengers were transferred to rescuing boats.
The motorized banca was on its way to Jetafe, Bohol when it got stalled off Cabul-an after it encountered big waves and took in seawater.
This occurred around 11:45 a.m., exactly two hours after it left Pier 1 in Cebu City with 29 Bohol-bound passengers and eight crewmen, headed by Teodoro Bongol.
Mb Clemer 5, owned by the same operator, was among the four responding seacraft that later took the passengers to Jetafe port, he said.
Since there was no notice of a storm signal, Legaspi advised all boat operators to take proper precautions should they decide to sail out to sea or better yet, to just refrain from sailing.
For its part, the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) 7 will convene its investigating team today to look into why a Supercat fastcraft vessel failed to convey its passengers to Ormoc City yesterday morning.
Marine specialist Jess Quinio said they received an initial report that the fastcraft suffered engine trouble off Danao City. The master of the vessel decided to head back for Cebu City.
Quinio said that the ship captain was supposed to file a marine protest within 24 hours from the incident. But as of yesterday, no protest was filed yet.
For his part, Ramon Villordon of the Aboitiz Transport System, owner and operator of Supercat, said the fastcraft did not experience engine trouble.
He explained that the ship captain decided to return to Cebu City because of the huge waves. One passenger told Sun.Star Cebu that the waves were so large it was like being on a rough rollercoaster ride.
