A passenger ship sailing from Cebu City to Iloilo ran aground within the vicinity of Santa Fe town, Bantayan Island, Cebu on Monday dawn, October 23, 2023. | Contributed photo via Paul Lauro
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Rescue operations are ongoing for passengers of a ship that ran aground within the vicinity of Bantayan Island in Cebu on Monday, October 23, 2023.
The Philippine Coast Guard in Central Visayas (PCG-7) confirmed that a roll-on-roll-off (roro) vessel, M/V Filipinas Butuan of Cokaliong Shipping Lines, ran aground in the shallow seawaters off Santa Fe town in Bantayan Island at the northernmost tip of Cebu island.
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Rescue boats and personnel have also been deployed to transfer stranded passengers and crew of the ship, said Coast Guard Commander Mark Larsen Mariano in an interview with Cebu-based radio station dyHP.
Based on initial reports, the incident occurred around 2 a.m. on Monday.
M/V Filipinas departed from Pier 1 in Cebu City at 7 p.m. on Sunday, October 22. It was scheduled to arrive in Iloilo around 8 a.m. on Monday.
One of the passengers, Yvette Sotto, said that a few minutes before it ran aground, they noticed strange sounds and movements on the ship.
“We can already see the island (Bantayan) and wondered why the ship was approaching it,” Sotto said in Cebuano in the same interview with dyHP.
Investigation on why ship ran aground
During the course of her interview, which was broadcast live past 8 a.m., Sotto said they had been stranded in the ship as they awaited rescue vessels from authorities.
In the meantime, passengers were served free breakfast, and nearby fisher folks and boat owners have managed to rescue some of them, she added.
PCG-7 has also started conducting investigations to determine the reason why the ship ran aground, which included verifying reports that the crew of the ship reportedly tried to avoid a fish cage along its path.
As of this posting, the PCG-7 recorded no reports of casualties due to the incident.
CDN Digital has also reached out to Cokaliong Shipping Lines for their comments but received none as of this posting.
/bmjo
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