3 vessels grounded after collision in Cebu

CEBU CITY—The Maritime Industry Authority in Central Visayas (Marina-7) has grounded three vessels involved in a mishap that left 58 passengers wounded on Saturday.

READ: 58 injured as ship collides with barge

MV St. Braquiel of 2Go Shipping, SMC Barge No. 8 of San Miguel Corp. and tugboat Matatag of Philmarine Service Corp. (PSC) were no longer allowed to sail pending results of the investigation.

They would not be issued safety certificates until they were cleared, said lawyer Jose Cabatingan, spokesperson of Marina-7.

He added the skippers of the vessels were also placed under preventive suspension.

They were Edgardo Binolinao of PSC Matatag and Reniero Maurin of St. Braquiel.

MV St. Braquiel with 90 passengers were heading to Pier 4 in Cebu City from Ormoc City, Leyte past 10 p.m. on Saturday when it hit SMC Barge No. 8, which was being pulled by tugboat Matatag at the Mactan Channel separating Cebu from Mactan Island.

READ: 49 passengers hurt after vessel hits SMC barge in Cebu

At that time, the barge was loaded with cases of beer bottles and was heading to Cebu City from Estancia town in Iloilo.

At least 58 passengers were hurt—23 of them were sent to  hospitals for treatment.

Dionlett Ampil, commander of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Cebu Station, said they received the suspension order against the three vessels on Sunday night.

“They are not allowed to operate unless the investigation is done,” Ampil said.

He added the barge and the passenger vessels were not also fit to sail due to the damage the two sustained.

Ampil said the marine casual investigation (MCI) would be formed and would be composed of at least eight people—technical expert, master mariner and chief engineer as well as representatives of the involved shipping firms, PCG and Marina. RAM/rga