MANILA, Philippines—The Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) Monday grounded the 10-vessel fleet of Aboitiz Transport System following the sinking of its SuperFerry 9 on Sunday.

Oil has begun to seep out of the stricken vessel in streaks that scattered over several kilometers off the coast of Zamboanga del Norte province, officials said.

The ship owner and maritime authorities were mobilizing experts to contain a possible oil spill, the officials said.

The 7,000-ton SuperFerry 9 left General Santos City on Saturday morning under fair weather bound for Iloilo City. The ship was carrying 968 people—847 passengers, 117 crew members and four sea marshals, according to Aboitiz, when it capsized early Sunday.

The Philippine Coast Guard said 958 people had been rescued, nine were killed and one was missing. Two Philippine Navy vessels were continuing the search Monday.

Ma. Concepcion Arbolario, Marina franchising director, said the agency had issued a show cause order, which effectively prohibited Aboitiz’s 10 passenger-cargo vessels from sailing, pending an investigation starting Sept. 15.

During the suspension, Marina will audit the Aboitiz fleet to ensure the ships’ seaworthiness and the crews’ competence.

The agency reminded the company that it must pay the survivors P50,000 and indemnify the families of the fatalities.

Jess Supan, an Aboitiz vice president, said the company based in Cebu City had not yet received the order but that it would comply.

“We are law-abiding citizens,” he said. In the meantime, he said, the fleet’s operations were continuing.

Marina also suspended the operations of Sulpicio Lines, owner of the MV Princess of the Stars, after the ferry sank off Romblon last year during a typhoon, leaving 800 people dead.

In the country’s worst maritime disaster, more than 4,000 people were killed when the MV Doña Paz, also owned by Sulpicio Lines, collided with an oil tanker in 1987.

Loud noise

Adm. Wilfredo Tamayo, Coast Guard chief, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer some survivors of SuperFerry 9 recalled hearing “a loud noise which apparently came from somewhere down the bottom of the ship” sometime before the disaster.

“It was not an explosion,” he stressed.

Tamayo said some passengers claimed that the sea was calm when the ship started to list early Sunday but that others reported seeing big waves.

He said there were reports that the generator broke down, that passengers saw water coming from a fissure in the hull and that there was problem in cargo lashing.

“We still don’t know if those particular (events) happened on or before the ship sank until we get formal statements from the passengers,” Tamayo said.

“These are still unverified information which we are going to (confirm) in a formal investigation,” he added.

Tamayo said a special Board of Marine Inquiry would be convened either on Friday or Monday.

Weather fair

Dante Arriola, officer in charge of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, said the weather was fair when the SuperFerry 9 sailed from General Santos City.

“There were scattered rain showers, the sky was cloudy but the wind was moderate,” Arriola said.

In 2004, a terrorist attack carried out by the Abu Sayyaf razed an Aboitiz vessel and killed 116 people. Officials have so far ruled out a similar terrorist strike this time.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Monday ordered the Board of Marine Inquiry to expedite the investigation into the latest sea tragedy.

“Somebody must definitely be punished,” said Lorelei Fajaro, presidential deputy spokesperson.

A lot of fuel in hold

Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo, Philippine Navy spokesperson, said that a survey around SuperFerry 9 Monday morning detected an oil sheen, prompting the Coast Guard to dispatch a ship carrying spill booms to contain a spill.

“That’s what we are concerned about,” Arevalo said, citing a report from a Navy patrol gunboat in the area.

“We now have to determine how to avoid the spread,” he said.

“It looks like we’re already experiencing our apprehensions... It still contains a lot of oil because it was supposed to go all the way to Iloilo, then Manila,” Arevalo told the Inquirer by phone.

Lt. Cmdr. Edgardo Hernando, deputy commander of the Coast Guard Action Center, said that Aboitiz had also contracted the private shipping firm Harbor Star for oil spill response.

Hernando told reporters that the vessel contained some 250 tons of fuel in its cargo hold—180 tons of residual oil, 45 tons of special fuel oil and 25 tons of lube.

The cargo is separate from the ship’s own fuel load, he said, but had no further details.

Oil sheen, not spill

Rear Adm. Alexander Pama, Naval Forces Western Mindanao commander, said he had received reports from Navy personnel that the oil spill was “about a mile wide and about four miles stretch.”

But Commodore Rodolfo Isorena, Coast Guard regional commander, said what was monitored was an “oil sheen, not oil spill.”

“It’s scattered. Oil sheen means a shine on the surface of the sea water and what’s good about the situation is that the flow of the sheen is towards southwest out of Sirawai,” Isorena said, referring to a coastal area in Zamboanga del Norte.

He also said initial reports showed that the cargo did not include bunker fuel, which could be more damaging to the environment.

He said that the Coast Guard had called five vessels fully equipped to contain a possible oil spill. With reports from Nikko Dizon, Riza T. Olchondra, Christian V. Esguerra and Aquiles Zonio and Julie S. Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao