1 killed as ship rams stalled fishing boat off Sarangani

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines—One person was killed and six others injured wounded when a Manila-bound Superferry passenger ship rammed a disabled fishing boat off Maasim, Sarangani, early Friday.

Superintendent Edgard Cuanan, chief of the police’s regional maritime unit in Central Mindanao, identified the dead  as Giovanni Buntong, 60, whose body was found floating in the area two hours after the 1 a.m. collision.

“We saw the big vessel coming straight to our boat. But our engine conked out so we were hit,” said Rex Bulawin, 28, one of the surviving fishermen.

Cuanan said the Superferry was allowed to sail away after the incident. He said the fishermen were to blame for the accident.

“Under the rules, small vessels must always give way to bigger ones. Another mistake of the boat captain was that there was no distress light or signal” that could have alerted the bigger ship, he said.