PCG reports 18 missing, 1 dead in sunken vessel in Batangas

The passenger ferry Shuttle Roro 5 is shown resting by shoreline after being swept by typhoon Nock-Ten a day after Christmas Monday, Dec. 26, 2016 at Mabini township, Batangas province, south of Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

The Philippine Coast Guard on Tuesday said that they were still conducting search operations and reported 18 missing with one dead after a cargo vessel sank off Tingloy, Batangas due to Typhoon “Nina.”

The MV Starlite Atlantic sank off Tingloy and the MV Shuttle Roro 5 sank off Mabini.

“Ang mga search vessels ay nananatili pa rin sa mga lugar ng pinagkalubugan, ‘yung 22 (na tao) ay ‘yung initial report, at noong narescue, sinasabi na 33 sila lahat lahat,” Southern Tagalog district commander Capt. Julius Caesar Victor Marvin Lim said in an interview with Radyo Inquirer.

(The search vessels remain in the places where the vessels sank, the 22 [people] were the initial report, and they said that there are 33 in total after they have been rescued)

He also said that according to the updated PCG records, 14 had been rescued and there were still 18 missing after the Starlite Atlantic sank.

Earlier reports recorded eight missing and identified the lone casualty as Lyca Banayal, one of the passengers of MV Starlite Atlantic.

READ: Search for 8 passengers of sunken vessel halted, 1 dead

Meanwhile, three more were added to the seven wooden-hulled boats that earlier ran aground in Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro. An oil tanker, MT Obama, also ran aground on Monday.

“Pito sa Puerto Galera, sa ngayon nandon pa sila, bali sampu na sila na nandoon,” Lim said.

(Seven in Puerto Galera, and they are still there as of now; there are ten of them there in total.)

Lim also said that they will still have to conduct inspections before pulling out the boats.

PCG spokesperson Cmdr. Armand Balilo in an interview with Radyo Inquirer said that they had already checked MT Obama and assured that people should not be worried.

“‘Yung empty Obama, oil tanker pero walang dapat ipangamba dahil nacheck na namin, wala namang butas, may team na rin kami roon ng marine environmental protection,” he said.

(The empty Obama is an oil tanker, but it’s no cause for worry because we already checked it; there were no holes, and we already have a team for marine environmental protection there.)

There were no oil spills reported. JE/rga