Survivors share tales; company assures aid

HENRY Dungod was watching TV along with his wife and two young daughters on board the M/V Island Ferry Fastcraft 1 when they saw smoke suddenly waft from below the ferry a little past noon yesterday.

Without hesitation, Dungod said he and his wife grabbed lifejackets and then jumped to the sea, each holding one daughter.

They were joined by several panicking passengers who jumped out of the vessel even without a life vest.

“It’s scary, especially when something like this happens and you’re with your family,” Dungod said.

They were among the passengers rescued from the vessel which caught fire and sank off the coast of barangay Tangke, Talisay City at 2:15 p.m yesterday.

The ship’s chief mate Avelardo Torrevillas Sr., a resident of Inabanga town, Bohol province and passengers Necitas Cabrera and Matea Enfiesto of Lapu-Lapu City drowned while one passenger remains unaccounted for (see related story on Page 1).

Victoria Ceniza-Gernao, hospital administrator of the Tubigon District Hospital where the passengers were turned over for treatment, said a young relative told them that Cabrera and Enfiesto were cousins spent vacation in Bohol.

The two were about to visit someone in Lapu-Lapu City prior to the incident.

Onlookers at the shores of barangay Tangke, Talisay City spotted the vessel engulfed in smoke shortly before noon time.

They alerted the Coast Guard who then informed the MV Seajet, a vessel bound for Cebu, on the plight of the passengers.

Dave Tabanan, whose wife was among the passengers, said he received her call for help before noon.

“My sister-in-law and other relatives cried as my wife asked for help to rescue her and other passengers,” he told Cebu Daily News.

Another survivor, Jesus Ceniza, said they were told by the captain to put on their lifejackets shortly before noon.

He told reporters that the smoke caused some passengers to panic and others to jump even without lifejackets.

The passengers were floating in Bohol Strait for an hour before the Coast Guard, MV Seajet and fisherfolks arrived to rescue them.

Ceniza was one of the 64 survivors transported by the MV Seajet to Tubigon town in Bohol and back to Cebu City.

In a radio interview, Cebu City Councilor Edgar Labella said he will pass a resolution in this week’s council session commending Seajet Captain Camilo Depalobos for helping rescue the passengers.  Correspondents Edison delos Angeles and Jhunnex Napallacan with an AP report