THE company that owns the tugboat that sank in the waters off Barangay Tayud, Consolacion, northern Cebu during the onslaught of Typhoon Odette (Rai) on Thursday evening, Dec. 16, 2021, has been formally notified by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Cebu to retrieve the marine vessel where four of its missing crew members are possibly stuck.
Captain Alvin Dagalea, PCG Cebu commander, told SunStar Cebu on Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022 they already sent the notice for the company to conduct an immediate salvage operation.
In earlier reports, the PCG Cebu reported that only three crew members remained stuck in the tugboat’s pilothouse after its divers retrieved three crew members.
However, latest reports from the local Coast Guard unit state that there were seven crew members inside mv Ida when the typhoon hit Cebu.
In the previous report, those retrieved were identified as Captain Luisito Roble, chief engineer Arthur Saavedra and ordinary seaman Roniel Saavedra.
Correction
A corrected report released Tuesday, states that the retrieved bodies were those of Luciano Roble, tugboat master; Arthur Saavedra, chief engineer; and Ricardo Payot Jr., ordinary seaman.
In the corrected report, Roniel Saavedra was listed as missing along with three others: Richard Marilao, chiefmate; Artemio Bondaog, oiler; and Rolly Cornejos, crane operator.
Dagalea said mv Ida’s owner requested the PCG Cebu time for preparation and planning for the salvage operation, a process of recovering a ship after a shipwreck or other maritime casualty.
Mv Ida was taking shelter in the anchorage area off the Tayud waters when Typhoon Odette sank it along with its seven crew members.
The boat’s bridge or pilothouse has been buried in the muddy seabed which is about 20 meters from the surface of the water.
Dagalea said the bodies of the missing crew members are believed stuck in the pilothouse.