Lt. Carlos Victor Carlos, Bataan CG Station commander, said 16 crews, including the captain, one technical assistant, one pipefitter and two welders of LCT Blue Hawk 88 abandoned ship after the vessel settled on the rocky portion of the shoreline.
He said that based on information gathered from Capt. Emmanuel Cepe, master of the vessel, the ship was relentlessly battered by big waves and strong winds.
The portside cargo hold of the vessel settled on a rock and incurred a hole of 1.5 meters by 2.5 meters between the portside ballast tank, Carlos said.
“The portside of the vessel laid in a rocky portion of the shoreline caused it to list at 1.5 degrees starboard side,” he said.
Based on the ship captain’s account, the CG commander said the crews managed to close all the fuel valves and water-tight doors of the engine room of the vessel before they left it.
The inter-island vessel left Cebu on July 24, 2017 bound for Subic Freeport to load rolling cargo on the way passing the West Philippines Sea in Mariveles.
The CG commander said no one from the personnel of the cargo vessel was badly hurt. “Minor bruises lang dahil bumaba sila by ropes, and exhaustion after crossing the mountains,” he said.
Carlos said they learned of the incident Thursday at 6:30 in the evening. He said he dispatched a rescue vessel and hired a tugboat to assist in the rescue. They reached the area at 12 midnight but were unable to rescue the crews due to strong waves.
The crews decided to hike through the mountains Friday where the Coast Guard, police and barangay personnel met them.
Carlos said that they were still investigating and waiting for the weather to improve to see what could be done.
“Malakas ang hangin doon at hindi kaya ng ordinary vessel na dumaan doon,” the CG official said.
On Friday afternoon, a representative of the owner of the cargo vessel, Marinebest Shipping Service of Binondo, Manila fetched the crews from the Coast Guard Station in Limay where they took some snacks.
