Samar folk fleeing ruin get sea scare

A GROUP of men boards a ferry at the Matnog port in Sorsogon province bound for relief operations in typhoon-ravaged areas in Leyte province. RICHARD BALONGLONG/INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

MATNOG, Sorsogon—What could have been an uneventful 90-minute ferry ride became a four-hour ordeal for at least 200 weary travelers from typhoon-hit Samar Island after the cargo vessel they were riding in suffered mechanical trouble that threatened to sink the ship about 5 kilometers off the Matnog port here on Tuesday morning.

Crew members of MV Natasha, one of the passenger and cargo vessels plying the route from the ports of Allen town in Northern Samar province and this coastal town, had to ask passengers to transfer to a sister vessel after the ship’s anchor broke and touched the seabed, threatening to drag the ship down about three-fourths into its journey.

Lt. Cmdr. Philipps Soria, station commander of the Philippine Coast Guard in Matnog, said the ferry, which is operated by Montenegro Shipping Lines, left the Allen port at 6 a.m. but ground to a halt when its anchor fell into the sea around 7 a.m.

The crew members failed to retrieve the anchor because the ship’s hydraulic line also broke. This prompted them to call for help from a sister vessel, MV Maria Ursula, Soria said.

“The second vessel was positioned side by side with the defective ship, allowing the passengers to transfer overboard,” he said.

Corazon Kalaw, who was in a group of 16 that was returning to Metro Manila after checking on and delivering relief stocks to family members in Guiuan town in Eastern Samar province, said she got the scare of her life as the vessel was already shaking violently.

“I thought, if we were to die there, my only consolation is that at least I was assured that my family is safe from ‘Yolanda,’” Kalaw said. Melvin Gascon, Inquirer Northern Luzon