Cargo ships sink off Antique, Catanduanes; crews rescued
Iloilo City— A cargo vessel carrying 35,000 bags of cement sank off the coast of Antique early yesterday morning, hours after another cargo vessel carrying iron sand sank off the waters of Catanduanes province.
San Jose, Antique police office reported that the MV Sea Ford sank 200 meters off barangay San Pedro in the capital town of San Jose at 2 a.m yesterday. All 18 crew members were rescued by fishermen and rescue teams.
Chief Insp Gilbert Gorero, San Jose police chief, said the ship was on its way to the port of Lipata in Culasi, Antique, from Cagayan de Oro City when it sank. The cause of the sinking is still being investigated.
The sinking occurred after a Chinese cargo vessel sank off Binorong Point in Baras, Catanduanes province last Saturday evening.
All its 14 crew members were rescued as of early yesterday morning.
About 11 of the crew members of the ill-fated MV Sun Spirit were rescued by the passing MV Oriental Sana 2, a cargo vessel from Cebu that was headed to the Catandaunes’ capital town of Virac at 9:20 a.m. yesterday.
The crew were rescued at the vicinity of Ungay Point in the island-town of Rapu-Rapu in Albay, said Maj. Angelo Guzman, spokesperson of the army’s 9th Infantry Division based in Camp Elias Angeles in Pili, Camarines Sur.
Guzman based his pronouncement on a report from the Philippine Navy in Bicol.
Three other crew members were rescued by an unnamed fishing boat in the same vicinity in Rapu-Rapu, Guzman said.
The distress signal from the capsized ship was received by authorities in Hong Kong and was relayed to the Philippine Navy last Saturday night, Guzman said.
The distress signal was immediately pinpointed by the Philippine Navy as coming from the sunken ship.
The vessel was on its way to China from Leyte carrying iron sand when it sent a distress message at 2:45 p.m. last Saturday.
Guzman said the ship was listing and sinking in the ocean about 34 nautical miles from Binorong Point.
A second distress call was received by Navy early yesterday morning but no ship was found at the Ungay Point, the location given by its caller.
Various Navy and Coast Guard units in Catanduanes and Albay launched search and rescue operations since late Saturday until it was confirmed that the crew of the ill-fated cargo ship have been rescued by MV Oriental Sana 2.
Authorities have yet to determine the nationalities and identities of the rescued personnel.
But a Coast Guard official in Catanduanes said the vessel was a Panamanian-registered cargo ship skippered by a certain Capt. Park Cheol Eon, a South Korean.
The vessel had a crew of another Korean and 12 Indonesians. Inquirer
