Search on for 18 crew members of sunken ‘Ro-Ro’

Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessels and five private helicopters have continued scouring the sea off Batangas province on Wednesday to find 18 people who went missing after a roll-on, roll-off (Ro-Ro) vessel sank as Typhoon “Nina” (international name: Nock-ten) battered Southern Tagalog on Monday.

Reports said MV Starlight Atlantic, a cargo and passenger vessel with 33 people onboard, sank off Barangay Corona in Tingloy town, Batangas,on Monday noon. Cabin crew Lyca Banaynal died while 18 other crew members went missing.

Battered by strong winds

In a telephone interview on Wednesday, Glenn Tabanao, a representative of the shipping company, said the 1,000-gross-ton vessel was anchored off the Batangas City port area on Monday but battered by strong winds, it was forced to seek shelter elsewhere.

Tabanao said the last communication received from the vessel was around 10:20 a.m. on Monday, “telling us they were OK.”

Ensign Joy Villegas of the PCG public affairs office said the vessel attempted to “reposition” and was on its way to Barangay Mainaga in Mabini town when it capsized off Tingloy.

PCG has deployed two search vessels in the area, while the shipping company hired five choppers and technical divers to locate the missing crew.

Tabanao said there was “no trace” of the ill-fated vessel as of Wednesday.

Fourteen people had been rescued, among them ship captain Eric Cuevas.

“Initially, the ship captain said there were only 22 of them onboard. It was just later when he came to his senses that he told us there were 33 of them,” Villegas said.

Tabanao said the survivors were rescued off life boats.

Ships ran aground

“According to the survivors, the waves were as high as 6 to 8 meters,” Tabanao said.

Aside from MV Starlight Atlantic, several other vessels ran aground at the height of the typhoon.

In Mabini town, 25 people were rescued off MV Shuttle Roro 5. The oil tanker MT Obama also ran aground in Gasan town in Marinduque province.

In Oriental Mindoro province, seven wooden-hulled boats and four other vessels ran aground in the villages of Balatero and San Antonio in Puerto Galera town.

Among these were cargo ship MV Ariana Gabriel, MV Reina Olympia and Land Craft Tanker Alicia Bernadette.

There were no reports of oil spillage in these areas, Villegas said.