RESCUED

After floating for almost eight hours in cold, dark seawater, rescued passengers of the capsized MB Mansan disembark from rescue vessel MV Filipinas Dinagat Cebu City. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)

Motorbanca capsizes at midnight; all 28 persons saved but rescuer loses foot

A rescue in rough waters took place almost eight hours after a motorbanca capsized off waters  between Liloan town and Camotes Island, north Cebu last night.

All 22 passengers, mostly seafood vendors and suppliers heading for Pasil market, and six crew members of MB Mansan were safely brought to Cebu city by the MV Filipinas Dinagat of Cokaliong Shipping Lines, which happened to pass by.  A barge joined the rescue.

In a freak accident, the first one to attempt the rescue by swimming in the water got entangled in the rope he was attaching to the boat. His right foot was cut off.

Rudyard Payusan, 48-year-old chief mate of the Landing Craft Tank (LCT) Gold Crescent, had swum to the capsized motorbanca and tied the rope.

“I wasn’t aware the rope got coiled on my leg while our barge was rocked hard by the waves,” he told  radio dyLA in Cebuano.

Emergency responders attended to Payusan when he arrived in Pier 1 with a bandage around the stump where his leg was amputated above the ankle.

The motor banca sailed from Talibon port in Bohol about 9 p.m.  and was supposed to reach Pasil in Cebu city  at 1 a.m.

All six crew members of the capsized banca were turned over to the police pending investigation by the Philippine Coast Guard.

“We will teach them a lesson,” said Commander Weniel Azcuna, chief of staff of the PCG in Central Visayas.

He said charges of reckless imprudence resulting to physical injuries can be filed against the owner and crew if complaints are filed by the passengers.

Motor bancas are not allowed to sail at night because they lack navigational devices for a safe voyage, he said.

The  boat capsized after the outrigger’s nylon rope was cut due to the rough waves, said Azcuña, based on initial inquiry.

Crew member Saturnino Abapo said they left Calituban Island in Bohol about  10 p.m last Friday.

Asked why they sailed at night,  he replied, “Anugon man gud kaayo.” (It’s a waste if we don’t make the trip.)

He identified his cousin Lolito Abapo as the boat owner and the skipper as Norberto Aparici.

Other crew members were identified as Joshua Mark Abapo, 23; Antonio Cabantogan, 43; Joseph Mark Simacon, 25; and Vernie Torion 23.

He said they handed out life jackets and focused on saving the women and a 12-year-old boy when the boat capsized.

The passengers held on to the floating debris and were in the cold water for almost eight hours.

Josephine Abenosa , a 48-year-old fish vendor, said the rough waves scared her.

“I just held on to the debris and prayed to God that we would survive,” she said.

She travels to Cebu city every other day to deliver fish to Pasil public market.

A video of the scene in GMA-7 showed  victims in life jackets staying afloat by holding to debris as rough waves battered the remains of the banca.

At almost 7 a.m., the MV Filipinas Dinagat passed by en route to  Cebu City from Surigao.

Passenger Alfredo Antojado described the difficulty of the rescue.

Because of strong waves, the passenger ship had to turn around four times until the vessel could start the rescue operation, he said.

“It took two hours for the rescue operations because of the big and rough waves,” said Chase Cokaliong, vice president for fleet operations of Cokaliong Shipping Lines Inc.

Passengers were given bottled water, coffee and noodles on board the ship until the vessel arrived 11:45 a.m at Pier 1 in Cebu City where medical personnel were waiting.

Ambulances from the Cebu city government brought passengers to a waiting Kaoshiung bus, where meal packs were distributed by social welfare workers.

Hadelyn Terreon hugged her 56-year-old mother Pedrosa who was crying as she got off the ship.

Pedrosa who delivers seaweed to Pasil market twice a week was able to call her daughter at midnight before the boat capsized, said Hadelyn.

Ester Concha of the Depart ment of Social Welfare and Services said the passengers were brought to Pasil market except for the injured Payusan who was taken to St. Vincent Hospital for treatment of his amputated foot.

The motorbanca was supposed to reach Pasil around 1 a.m.

Boat captain Aparice, 41, told dyLA the waves were still manageable when they left Talibon, Bohol.

Then close to midnight, the nylon rope used to hold the bamboo poles that balance the boat or tarik was cut, he said.

Aparice said he and his crew immediately distributed life jackets to passengers and threw overboard the cargo of fish and marine products to avoid having the boat  submerge.

But the motor banca eventually capsized.

Asked how they survived the waves and cold water for  7 to 8 hours, he said they were fishermen.

“Naanad na mi sa dagat (We are used to the sea),” Aparice said.