Search for 8 passengers of sunken vessel halted, 1 dead

The passenger ferry Shuttle Roro 5 is shown resting by shoreline after being swept by Typhoon “Nina” a day after Christmas Monday at Mabini, Batangas. AP Photo/Bullit Marquez

SAN PEDRO CITY – A female passenger of a cargo-passenger ship that sank at the height of typhoon “Nina” (international name: Nock-ten) off Batangas province had died, while eight more passengers were still missing, reports from the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the local police said.

Batangas police director Sr. Supt. Leopoldo Cabanag identified the fatality as Lyca Banaynal.

Banaynal was one of the passengers of MV Starlite Atlantic ferry that sank off Barangay (village) Corona in Tingloy, Batangas before noon on Monday.

The police said 14 people had been rescued, among them ship captain Eric Cuevas. The others were Ricky Lallen, Airon Barrera, Rommel Olaco, Ronvic Ricohermoso, Jose June Bernabe, Jill Violyn Gonzalez, Russel Andal, Nestor Santiago, Bobet Rabasto, Jonathan Garcia, Mark Angelo Estenote, James Bernard Padilla, and Marjun Badonaza.

Ensign Joy Villegas of the PCG’s Public Affairs Office, however, declined to confirm the report on the lone fatality until rescuers have returned to the Coast Guard headquarters in Manila, she said.

But she said eight more people remained missing.

The Coast Guard called off the search and rescue operations until Tuesday morning as “it’s already dark and the current was still strong,” Villegas said.

Meanwhile, roll-on, roll off vessel MV Shuttle Roro 5 had also run aground off Mabini Batangas around 11 a.m. Villegas said all 25 crew and passengers were rescued.

In Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro and in Gasan Marinduque, seven wooden-hulled boats and oil tanker MT Obama, respectively, also ran aground.

No oil spill in Gasan was reported, Villegas said. Marrah Rabe (@MERabeINQ) and Maricar Cinco (@maricarcincoINQ), Inquirer Southern Luzon