TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Philippines — A defective exhaust fan in the engine room caused the fire on an interisland ferry off Bohol province that killed one person on Sunday, a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) official said.
The fire’s origin was stated in the marine protest submitted by Grace Cinco, captain of MBCA Mama Mary Chloe on Monday, according to Petty Officer 3rd Class Louie Cundag, commander of the PCG in Ubay town, Bohol.
He said he had yet to receive the official copy of the report, which was submitted in Talibon town.
A marine protest is a declaration on oath by the boat master of the circumstances attending the damage or loss of the vessel. It is submitted to the PCG station commander of the area where the accident occurred or of the first immediate “port of call,” or a place where a ship stops on a voyage.
157 passengers
MBCA Mama Mary Chloe, which had 157 passengers and eight crew members, sank on Sunday after it caught fire while traveling from Ubay to Bato town in Leyte province. The vessel, which left the Ubay port at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, was in the waters off Gaus Island and Tugas Island of President Carlos P. Garcia town when it caught fire at around 1 p.m.
The boat had a maximum capacity of 236 persons and owned by Boholana Neri Obligado.
The lone fatality was identified as Adolfo Rañola, a 53-year-old resident of Trinidad, Bohol.
Another passenger, Andy Tuñacao, 32, of Barangay San Juan in Hilongos, Leyte, was earlier reported missing but was found alive in Hilongos.
“No more missing. Lahat accounted na (All were accounted for),” Cundag said.
According to Cundag, Tuñacao was one of the 99 rescued passengers who were brought to Hilongos but he immediately went home and forgot to have himself listed as one of the survivors.
—LEO UDTOHAN
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