200 passengers of grounded shipping line stranded at Romblon port
SAN PEDRO, Laguna, Philippines — Some 200 passengers bound for Batangas at noon on Sunday were stranded at the port of Odiongan, Romblon, after the operations of the 2GO Travel and Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corp. were suspended in light of Friday’s ship collision in Cebu.
The shipping company refunded the tickets purchased by the passengers for the 11:59 a.m. trip to Batangas, Bong Atienza of 2Go’s ticketing office in Odiangan, said.
Atienza, in a phone interview, said a 2GO ship that was supposed to leave from Caticlan in Aklan at 9 a.m. and arrive in Odiongan by noon Sunday to pick up the Batangas-bound passengers was grounded on orders from the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina).
Marina, on Saturday, ordered the immediate inspection of all vessels of the shipping company, after 2Go’s MV St. Thomas Aquinas collided with MV Sulpicio Express Siete of Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corp. on Friday night in the waters off Talisay City in Cebu.
At least 33 were reported dead and more than a hundred still missing after the collision.
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