The Cebu Coast Guard (CG) reminded all ship captains to strictly follow the safety policy for passengers to stay in their seats until their vessel completely docks.
“I told the skippers to follow the policy of airlines. Passengers should remain seated until the vessel has completely docked,” said Cebu CG commander Rodolfo Villajuan after Tuesday’s accident where St. Sealthiel, a SuperCat fastcraft owned by 2GO Travel, rammed the pier in Cebu City before docking.
Most of the injured passengers were those standing up and falling in line to disembark quickly. They were thrown off balance by the hard impact.
In his marine protest, St. Sealthiel’s skipper Florito Norman Teves said the vessel’s throttle malfunctioned while he was maneuvering to dock and rammed into berth 27 of Pier 1.
The vessel was allowed to go to a shipyard in Consolacion town for repair of damage on its starboard bow.
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