Coast Guard men, officers probed over boat mishaps that killed 28, not 31

ILOILO CITY—Philippine Coast Guard officials and men in Western Visayas are facing a maritime casualty investigation as the death toll in Saturday’s boat accidents along the Iloilo Strait reached 28 on Monday (Aug. 5).

Commodore Allan Victor Dela Vega, Coast Guard Western Visayas District commander, also admitted that the figure of 31 fatalities he issued on Sunday was wrong.

Manila reporters cited Dela Vega’s figures which contradicted with the report issued by the Office of Civil Defense and Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council in Western Visayas placing the fatalities at 25 as of 1 p.m. on Sunday.

“There was no intent to deceive,” Dela Vega said in a multi-agency press briefing Monday afternoon as he explained how pieces of information reaching Coast Guard units differed.

Six passengers are still missing as of 2 p.m. on Monday with 52 survivors including four still confined in hospitals in Iloilo City for minor injuries.

Dela Vega said he and other Coast Guard officers and men in the region are being investigated by a two-person team from the agency’s national headquarters.

The investigation will also look into lapses that may have led to the tragedy, the worst for the people of Guimaras in living memory./TSB