Contributed photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — A surface and underwater search and rescue (SAR) operation is now ongoing to look for the missing tugboat crew who jumped in the waters after the vessel that he boarded allided with a LCT vessel on Friday afternoon, March 10.
The incident happened on the waters of Consolacion town in northern Cebu or about 200 yards from the Colorado Shipyard, according to Lt. Junior Grade Stephen Pagcaliwagan, spokesperson of the Philippine Coast Guard District in Central Visayas (PCG-7).
Pagcaliwagan identified the missing crew of MTUG Nagasaka as Joseph Villamor.
Quoting information that they have received, Pagcaliwagan said that Villamor jumped into the waters after their tugboat allided with LCT Jana Juliana.
PCG-7 said that MTUG Nagasaka was towing LCT Juana Juliana when the port bow of the LCT allided with that of the tugboat, causing the latter to sink.
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PCG-7 received a report of the incident from multi-role response vessel (MRRV-4408) at around 3:17 p.m. on Friday.
“Immediately upon receipt of the report, MRRV-4408 deployed her rigid hull boats with two ship divers to simultaneously conduct surface and underwater search and rescue operations,” the coast guard said.
At around 4 p.m., personnel of the Coast Guard Station in Mandaue and Marine Environmental Protection Unit in Central Visayas (MEPU-7) rendered assistance as they also monitored a possible oil spill.
The submerged tugboat reportedly carried about 60 liters of diesel oil.
Pagcaliwagan said the MEPU is still currently monitoring the area, but found no signs of spill.
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