Passenger Ship-Cargo Vessel collision in Cebu|31 casualties, 200 missing
Passenger Ship-Cargo Vessel collision in Cebu|31 casualties, 200 missing
Officials of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said at least 31 people were dead and around 200 passengers remain missing after 2GO passenger vessel, MV St. Thomas Aquinas, sank Friday night following a collision with a cargo vessel, Sulpicio Express 7, off the coast of Talisay City, Cebu, the ABS-CBN news reports.
Authorities said MV St. Thomas Aquinas came from Agusan del Norte and was headed for Manila via Cebu. The President of 2GO said the captain of their ship communicated with MV Sulpicio when he saw the cargo ship was heading into their way. However, the cargo vessel didn't change its direction promting the captain of MV Thomas Aquinas to change his course. But it was too late. At around 9:05p.m the collision of the two ships occurred while both of them were navigating the narrow sea lane in Cebu.
Related Story: Seaman onboard MV Aquinas hailed as HERO
Hundreds of passengers of MV St. Thomas Aquinas had to jump out of the ship as the it began to sink 10 minutes after the collision.
"Something caught up with the vessel and then I just saw that it was slowly sinking. The passengers then started jumping out of the vessel," said Mantilla Domingo. Another passenger who was rescued, Glenda Sabadilla, said most of the passengers were already sleeping when the incident happened.
"Then there was a commotion and everyone was searching for their life vests, and then we all started jumping out of the sinking vessel," she said.
The President of 2GO, Jun Tagud, said 723 passengers and 118 crew or a total of 841 people were on board MV St. Thomas Aquinas. Tagud also said that the capacity of the ship is 1,010 persons.
Rescue Operations
PCG Vice-Commandant for Operations Rear Admiral Luis Tuason Jr. said search and rescue operations are jointly conducted by the PCG and Philippine Navy. Several fishing vessels are also helping in the rescue efforts. Tuason said divers will see if there were any trapped passengers inside the vessel, which sank in water around 120 feet deep.
The search and rescue operations were hampered on Saturday afternoon due to strong waves in the area. As of writing, a total of 629 victims were successfully rescued.
Related Story: Seaman onboard MV Aquinas hailed as HERO
The PCG commandant said it appeared that one of the vessels violated the rules on which lanes they should use when traveling in and out of the port. He also said the captain of the passenger ship was among those rescued, and was being questioned.
Meanwhile, the cargo ship, which had 36 crew members on board, did not sink.