Monday, June 23, 2008 79 passengers, crew stranded
AT least 79 passengers and crewmembers were stranded for hours in Estancia town, Iloilo when strong winds and waves buffeted Cebu-bound mv Pilipinas Cebu, forcing the ship to seek shelter there Saturday dawn.
Cokaliong Shipping Lines president and general manager Chester Cokaliong, however, assured that all people on board the vessel were safe and were on their way to Cebu as of last night.
It is expected to arrive in Cebu City this morning.
MV Pilipinas Cebu left the Iloilo City port last Friday night when typhoon Frank hit the country.
In Estancia, half of the number of passengers decided to disembark and opted to travel by land.
Cokaliong said they were given full refund for their boat tickets last Saturday yet.
The incident forced the shipping company to cancel the Iligan trip of MV Pilipinas Dinagat, which was instead sent to Estancia to pick up the remaining passengers.
MV Pilipinas Dinagat arrived in Estancia past 5 p.m. last Saturday.
Cokaliong said they did not cancel the Iloilo-Cebu trip because the Coast Guard gave mv Pilipinas Cebu clearance to leave port.
“The Coast Guard cleared us because that time, signal number one ra man. But tunga-tunga, (half-way through the trip) nag signal number three (was raised) man and sa
kakusog sa bagyo (because of the strong typhoon), the vessel drifted to a shallow, muddy area, so the captain decided to seek shelter there,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.
MV Pilipinas Cebu is just one of numerous sea-going vessels that drifted off course because of typhoon Frank, which left hundreds of people homeless across the Panay islands.
Cokaliong said the 2,700-ton mv Pilipinas Cebu is in good condition; and with a passenger capacity of 642, it is the company’s newest vessel.
“If not for the typhoon, we wouldn’t have any problem. The vessel is in a very good condition and our record would speak for itself. It’s really the weather. Even the
country’s largest vessel nalunod man gani (was sunk by the typhoon),” he said referring to the mv Princess of the Stars.
The Sulpicio Lines vessel sank off Sibuyan Island with 747 pssengers Saturday night.
Cokaliong took exception to complaints that the management did not do anything to help the stranded passengers, saying he even canceled the trip of one of vessel just so the passengers can be ferried from Estancia to Cebu.
A passenger yesterday sent a text message to a relative, who forwarded it to Sun.Star Cebu, complaining that at the time that it was sent, they still had no clue how they could leave Estancia.
He said crewmembers assured them that another vessel was on its way to pick them up but as of noontime, it had not arrived yet.
“That we are not doing anything is a very unfair accusation. I am doing everything I can to get them out of there the soonest time possible,” Coka-liong said in a phone interview. (LCR)
