Passenger ship from Isabel, Leyte stranded off the port of Danao City, Cebu

(Video credits to Dindo Blanco Mondragon)

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Around 100 passengers bound for Danao City, Cebu and coming from Isabel town in Leyte are currently stranded on board a roll-on-roll-off (roro) vessel which has stalled off the Port of Danao City, north of Cebu, allegedly due to engine malfunction.

At least three videos showing Philippine Coast Guard (PCG)-Danao’s rescue team assisting the distressed vessel were sent via a private message to Cebu Daily News Digital. One of the videos showed several men, believed to be members of the crew, scooping out seawater from the vessel’s engine room. 

The videos were owned by Dindo Mondragon, one of the stranded passengers. He told CDN Digital in a phone interview that the roro, which was owned by a Cebu-based shipping company, stalled a few kilometers away from the Port of Danao City. 

Mondragon said that as of 1:35 p.m. today, Saturday, January 19, he and an estimated 100 passengers on board the roro are now waiting to be transferred to a rescue ship from the PCG-Danao station. 

“Its been almost 30 minutes since the roro slowed down and then stopped,” he said in Cebuano. 

According to Mondragon, the roro departed from Isabel, Leyte around 7 a.m., and was expected to dock at the Port of Danao City at 11 a.m. He added that before the coast guard arrived to rescue them, the vessel already suffered a malfunction shortly after it left Isabel, Leyte. 

“It first malfunctioned a few minutes after we departed from the pier of Isabel town. But the crew managed to control and solve the problem around two hours after. Then, as we are nearing Danao City, it malfunctioned again,” said Mondragon in Cebuano. 

Mondragon also said he heard unofficial reports circulating inside the roro that seawater have entered the passenger vessel’s engine room.

“The crew did not tell us anything but we heard that if the vessel will sail, seawater seems to enter inside the engine room,” he added./mga