Rescue teams with adequate equipment should be deployed right away to save the lives of the 251 passengers inside the ship which capsized in Quezon province, Senator Grace Poe urged on Thursday.
“The first order of the day is the immediate rescue of the passengers from the capsized ship,” Poe, who chairs the Senate committee on public services, said in a statement.
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) confirmed that they received a report of a ship’s sinking around 11 a.m.
According to police reports, the vessel left Real port in northern Quezon fronting the Pacific Ocean at 10:30 a.m.
Then huge waves reportedly smashed the boat, causing it to sink in the seas off Barangay (village) Dinahican in nearby Infanta town.
READ: Ship sinks off Quezon – PCG
Although reports said the ship was not overloaded, Poe urged authorities to determine whether the cause of the mishap was an accident or a preventable man-made disaster.
In the wake of the incident, Poe also reiterated her call for the creation of the National Transportation Safety Board, “which will ensure that better safety standards are in place to prevent disasters from happening.”
“As an investigative body composed of experts, the NTSB can conduct independent probes to piece together more reliable reports with recommendations to prevent future civil and public transportation mishaps,” Poe said.#