DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental—A total of 278 passengers and 73 rolling cargoes have been stranded in Negros Occidental as of 6 p.m of Monday evening, December 23, 2019, due to typhoon Ursula.
Lieutenant Commander Jansen Benjamin, Coastguard Commander based in Negros Occidental, said in an interview with CDN Digital that there are 50 stranded passengers in Bacolod, 148 in Escalante City, and 80 in San Carlos City.
Benjamin added a total of 73 rolling cargoes were also stranded in the different ports of Negros Occidental, 50 in Bacolod City, 42 in Escalante, and 11 in San Carlos City.
In Cebu and the neighboring Bohol, almost 2,000 passengers have been stranded due to the typhoon.
The Philippine Coast Guard District Central Visayas (PCG-7) declared the suspension of all vessel trips at noon on Monday after northern and central Cebu and northeastern Bohol were placed under storm signal number 1.
Aside from Cebu and Bohol, the state weather bureau also placed Sorsogon, Masbate, and Ticao Island in Luzon and Dinagat Island, Surigao del Norte including Siargao Island under Signal no. 1.
Encina said all coast guard station units should strictly implement the suspension of vessel trips in their localities. /bmjo