Ship captains should always look at the charts in navigating the sea to avoid ship grounding incidents.
LTJG Michael John Encina, spokesperson of the PCG-7, made this call to captains of sea vessels amid the latest incident involving a tugboat, MTug “Fortis X,” which ran aground near Lipata Bank off the waters of Talisay City at 2:35 a.m. on Friday (Nov. 7).
This followed last month’s incident involving a Cebu-bound passenger vessel running aground in the Danajon Reef in
Bohol.
Encina said the tugboat, with a 496 gross tonnage, was on its way to the anchorage area in Talisay City, Cebu to pull MV Lorcon Dumaguete anchored in the area, when it ran aground.
Encina said that the Coast Guard, divers and medical personnel rescued the captain of the vessel and the 12 crew members after they received the call about the incident.
“All crew had their vital signs taken by coast guard medical and were in good physical condition,” Encina said.
Encina said that they were into “human error” as a possible cause of the tugboat running aground in the area.
“We are still under investigation. But usually po pag agrounding that would be human error. But we are still basing sa final report,” said Encina.
He also said the navigator of the tugboat allegedly failed to notice the danger mark placed on the waters off Talisay City as probably the cause of the grounding.
The Maritime Industry Authority in Central Visayas (Marina-7) also suspended the vessel’s certificate to navigate after the incident.
Encina also said that they also noticed no coral damage and no oil spill in the area where the ship ran aground.
Encina said that another tugboat of a sister company of MTug would pull the grounded tugboat on Saturday midnight during high tide.