Cebu sea accident toll up, but figures differ

AP FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The death toll in last Friday’s collision of two interisland ships off Talisay City has risen to 61, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said Tuesday.

Commander Armand Balilo, the PCG spokesman, also said that “as of 10 a.m. today, 59 passengers (of the sunken ferry St. Thomas of Aquinas) remained missing, while 750 had been rescued.”

Search-and-rescue operations, which were suspended Monday afternoon due to huge waves at the accident site, have resumed, Balilo, also chief of the PCG public affairs office, told the Inquirer.

Casualty counts

In Cebu, however, officials gave conflicting figures on casualties, survivors and the missing from the collision of the Aquinas of 2GO Travel with the cargo ship, Sulpicio Express Siete, of Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corp. (PSACC), formerly Sulpicio Lines Inc.

In a press conference in Talisay City, Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III said on Tuesday that as of 10:30 a.m., the fatalities from the passenger ship numbered 63, with 750 survivors and 57 still missing.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, on the other hand, in a separate press conference at city hall reported 62 fatalities, 674 survivors and 134 missing. There was no explanation for the discrepancy in their figures.

The St. Thomas of Aquinas had a total of 870 persons on board—754 passengers and 116 crew members. The Sulpicio Express had 36 crew men who were all safe.

Two more bodies were retrieved yesterday from the sunken ship, according to Commodore Reynaldo Yoma, commander of Naval Forces Central (Navforcen) whose divers entered the water at 7 a.m. Tuesday.

2 bodies found

Yoma, head of the St. Thomas of Aquinas Retrieval (Sta-r) operation, told the Inquirer the bodies were found by the door of the ship.

Two bodies floating off the shore of Cordova town were also recovered by local fishermen Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, the captains of both vessels have blamed the other for the collision at Lawis Ledge off Talisay.

In their marine protests filed with the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina), both said they tried to communicate with the other but there was no response from either vessel.

Capt. Rolito Gilo of the Sulpicio Express said his vessel was sailing straight when he saw the St. Thomas of Aquinas on the port (left) side approaching the Lawis Ledge lighthouse.

“I instructed (a crew member) to call the inbound vessel, stating for port to port passage in accordance with the transportation separation scheme (TSS). There was no response from sighted inbound vessel. I instructed to call the inbound vessel again, and still there was no response,” Gilo said.

He said he ordered his crew to change course to starboard (the right) when the passenger vessel suddenly turned left, which resulted in their collision.

“A minute after the second call, I sighted the red light (left side) of the inbound vessel indicating its passage as port to port. Then inbound vessel suddenly exhibited green light. Impact between our vessel and the other vessel which turned out to be MV St. Thomas of Aquinas occurred at 2046H (8:46 p.m.) of 16 August 2013,” Gilo said in his marine protest.

He said he immediately sounded the alarm, broadcast a “mayday” and conducted search and rescue operations. His men were able to save 181 passengers and 33 crew members of the St. Thomas, he said.

For his part, Capt. Reynan Bermejo of the St. Thomas of Aquinas also said he tried to contact the cargo vessel several times.

Traffic separation scheme

“Despite several attempts on our part to call her attention that she was not following the traffic separation scheme, she did not alter course to vacate the inbound lane which created a risk of collision,” he said.

Bermejo said he eventually altered course to avoid a collision but the cargo vessel also suddenly changed its direction.

“As I am restricted on my starboard side due to shallow waters and outbound vessel occupying inbound lane, I decided to alter course to hard port (left) to avoid collision. While our vessel was turning to port (side), the outbound cargo vessel suddenly changed course to starboard that caused the collision.

“Our vessel was hit at the starboard quarter and sank as a result,” Bermejo said in his marine protest.

A marine protest is the primary evidence in an accident investigation involving  sea vessels.

The Board of Marine Inquiry (BMI) has jurisdiction over marine accidents and casualties relative to the liability of ship owners and officers and has exclusive jurisdiction to investigate cases and complaints against marine officers.

Meanwhile, the oil leaking out of the St. Thomas of Aquinas has forced some resorts on Mactan Island to close their beach fronts to swimmers.

The ferry was carrying 20,000 liters of diesel fuel, 120,000 liters of bunker or crude oil and 20,000 liters of lube oil.

Jonji Gonzales, spokesperson for Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza, said their monitoring showed that on Saturday, an oil sheen had reached the waters of some resorts on Mactan.

Gonzales said these included the Crimson Resort and Spa Mactan, Pacific Cebu Resort, Movenpick Hotel Mactan Island Cebu and Plantation Bay Resort and Spa, which all decided to close their beaches.

Earlier, five barangays (villages) of Cordova town, Talisay City and other areas reported oil slicks covering their waters.