Traces of oil seen from sunken SuperFerry
Marine board inquiry starts tomorrow
Y VICTOR REYES
THE Navy yesterday said it has found an oil sleek coming from the SuperFerry 9 which sank off the waters of Siocon town, Zamboanga del Norte on Sunday, killing nine of nearly a thousand aboard.
As of yesterday morning, rescuers hade recovered nine bodies and rescued 957 passengers and crew.
Two remain missing, according to the Coast Guard. The Office of the Civil Defense said only one passenger remained missing.
Navy spokesman Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo said the oil sleek was noticed early morning yesterday by personnel aboard Patrol Gunboat 111, which is among the several Navy ships deployed in the area for search and rescue operations.
Arevalo said the gunboat’s skipper, Commander Ramil Enriquez, reported the sleek to his superiors at the Naval Forces Western Mindanao under Rear Adm. Alex Pama who immediately dispatched an Island plane to check on it.
Pama, in an interview, said he would not immediately call the discovery an oil sleek or spill but an “oil sheen.”
He said the oil sheen, which he said is an “oily debris,” measured one mile by four miles (1.61 by 6.4 kilometers)
“That’s the very rough estimate of the pilot,” he said.
Pama said it would be up to the Coast Guard to determine whether it was an oil sleek or oil sheen.
Arevalo said the “oil sleek” was first sighted by the PG-111 before 6:30 a.m. He said the ship was pre-occupied with the search and rescue operations so it passed the information to the Naval Forces Western Mindanao.
Adm. Wilfredo Tamayo, Coast Guard commander, said experts have been sent to the site to check the supposed oil spill. He said Aboitiz, the operator of SuperFerry 9, has also sent a tugboat to assist BRP Corregidor in responding to a possible oil spill.
“The estimated amount of fuel inside can be managed by the two vessels that we have,” said Tamayo referring to the Coast Guard and Aboitiz tugboat.
Tamayo said the SuperFerry 9 was loaded with about 180 tons of residual oil, 45 tons of special fuel oil and 35 tons of lube oil. He said an oil spill is possible if the ship’s hull is weak or if the hull sustained cracks.
Earlier, Defense Secretary and National Disaster Coordinating Council chairman Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said they received reports that the incident was caused by a hole in the ship’s hull although he said this was not definite unless it is so established by the Board of Marine Inquiry.
Sought for a comment on the reported hole in the hull, Tamayo said: “We can’t answer that as of now because several accounts and we are getting varied accounts....We cannot come up with speculations because that will be pre-emptive. That will be the subject of our investigation,” he said.
Tamayo said there appears to be no indication that the incident was a result of a terrorist attack. In 2004, over a hundred people died when SuperFerry 14 caught fire off Manila Bay and authorities later admitted that it was caused by bomb planted by the Abu Sayyaf.
“There was no explosion …But of course we cannot actually make a conclusion until the investigation. But as of now, it doesn’t look like it was caused by terrorism but of course, during the investigation, questions will also be asked on many things, about the possibilities,” he said.
The NDCC named four of the fatalities as two-year-old James Patrick Gallego, Ferdinand Apolonio, Carina Ampere, 23, and Fernando Estrada, 45. The rest were unidentified – three females and two males.
SUSPENSION
The Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) ordered the suspension of seven SuperFerry vessels for audit.
SuperFerry, a unit of Aboitiz Transport System (ATS), has a fleet of 8 -- SuperFerry 1, SuperFerry 2, SuperFerry 5, SuperFerry 12, SuperFerry 19, Our Lady of Medjugorje, Our Lady of Good Voyage and the ill -fated SuperFerry 9.
Thompson Lantion, DOTC spokesman, said cargo vessels of the company would still be allowed to sail.
CRACK, MALFUNCTION
Lantion also said that the Special Board of Marine Inquiry will start tomorrow, Wednesday, their investigation on the cause of the sinking.
The shipping line sails to 15 ports, including Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Coron, Cotabato, Davao, Dumaguete, General Santos, Iligan, Iloilo, Manila, Ozamis, Puerto Princesa, Tagbilaran, and Zamboanga.
The Special Board of Marine Inquiry of the Coast Guard will look into the reported hull crack and generator malfunction.
The Coast Guard said once the generator malfunctions, control of the vessel will become hard, forcing it to tilt.
Authorities have said the vessel first listed before sinking.
Erden Ferrer, senior corporate security officer of SuperFerry, said there was no hole in the hull of the ship prior to its voyage.
ANOTHER VESSEL
A Panama-registered cargo vessel sank late Sunday off Eastern Samar.
Four Koreans and 15 Filipino crewmen were rescued after MV Hera tilted and sank 15 nautical miles off Salaan Point.
The vessel came from Papua New Guinea headed for China when it sent out a distress call late Sunday.
“The vessel was reportedly taking in water because of engine trouble,” said Tamayo.
He said the 4,189-ton vessel’s coordinates were last traced several nautical miles off Eastern Samar in the Central Visayas region.
The Coast Guard said it received a distress call from the Hong Kong Maritime Coordinating Center around 8:15 p.m. Sunday, requesting for search and rescue operation for MV Hera that was taking in water 11 nautical miles east of Hilaban island, Samar.
The ship was en route from Papua New Guinea to Jangiagang, China. Its captain was identified as Gu Jauk, a Korean.
As of 8:50 a.m., a fishing boat, F/B Pilano with Coast Guard personnel on board started towing the lifeboat of MV Hera to Oras, Eastern Samar.
LIBERALIZATION
A Malacañang official suggested “liberalizing” and opening the shipping industry to more players to improve service.
Gary Olivar, deputy presidential spokesman for economic affairs, said problems like overloading and poor quality of vessels may be addressed if there is more competition in the freight and shipping business.
“All I’m saying is when you’re in a situation where there is a chronic excess of demand, and secondly when you have chronic misbehavior by the players of the industry, this should be a classic candidate for measures to open up the industry to more entry, more competition and that will make it more efficient, more responsive to the public and create more capacity than the public needs,” he said.
There are eight to 10 major shipping companies operating in the country – mostly for inter-island travels in the Visayas and Mindanao regions. These includes the WG & A Philippines Inc. (which is the amalgamation of the Williams Lines Inc., Carlos A Gothong Lines Inc. and Aboitiz Shipping Corporation), Negros Navigation, and Sulpicio Lines Inc., owner of the ill-fated Princess of the Star that sank last year.
Lorelei Fajardo, deputy presidential spokeswoman, said someone has to take responsibility for the accident, regardless if they are in government, influential or not.
“Maraming liabilities but as I said, very important itong mga gagawing testimony ng mga survivors at iyan ang isa sa magiging pinakamabigat na basehan ng mga Board of Marine Inquiries sa kanilang investigation and something has to be done, somebody must definitely be punished and kung sinoman iyung magiging held liable dito sa nangyaring mishap na ito and we have to ensure that next time this will not happen again,” she said. – With Genivi Factao, Ashzel Hachero and Jocelyn Montemayor
|
