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SuperFerry ship with 900 passengers stranded off Camiguin


MANILA, Philippines – More than 900 passengers of a SuperFerry passenger ship had been stranded at sea off Camiguin province since Sunday evening after the vessel’s engine conked out, radio dzBB reported Monday. A certain "Mary," one of the passengers aboard SuperFerry 9, contacted radio dzBB by mobile phone to report that they had been stranded at sea for the last 12 hours off the coast of the pear-shaped southern Philippine island. Mary said had it [engine failure] not happen, they should be in Manila by 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. She said the ship still had to make a stop over in Iloilo province, to pick up more passengers. When radio dzBB reached the Coast Guard for comment, a surprised Coast Guard Vice Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo said his office has not yet received a report of the maritime incident. Tamayo said the shipping company might have violated maritime procedures when it failed to contact authorities and tell them about the incident. "Nababahala ako… Para sa akin, may nilabag silang alituntunin kasi [I am worried. I think they might have violated our regulations because] we are talking not only about the safety of the vessel but also of the passengers themselves," Tamayo said. PCG spokesperson Commander Nimrod Enriquez later told GMANews.TV that they finally received word about the mishap about 11:30 a.m. of Monday. Enriquez said that the ship’s captain dropped its anchor off Camiguin Island at 12:45 a.m. Monday to "conduct repairs on the ship." However, it was not immediately known what problem the crewmen were trying to fix. A separate radio report, however, indicated that the problem was connected to an engine failure. Tamayo stressed the importance of alerting government authorities whenever a sea mishap erupts, saying quick response operations depend on it. "Alam mo naman sa rescue operations, maaga pa lang dapat nasasabihan na kami para makapaghanda hindi lang ang PCG pero ang shipping company as well [In rescue operations, the PCG and the shipping company could only respond quickly to the incident if we are alerted early]," he said. An official from the SuperFerry’s owner Aboitiz Transport System Corp, who was not identified, assured radio dzBB that the matter would be resolved in less than two hours or by 1 p.m. Upon learning about Aboitiz’s response, Mary said: "Okay naman po. Sige lang po. Salamat po kung ganoon [That’s good. Thank you then]." The PCG had already assured that the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) would be checking on the SuperFerry 9’s seaworthiness upon the vessel’s arrival at the port. The 926 passengers of the ship were unharmed, the PCG spokesperson added. "Dapat automatically nirereport sa PCG to prepare for any problems, [They should automatically report to the PCG to prepare for any problems]," said Enriquez regarding any incidents at sea. – Mark Merueñas with Katrina Elaine Alba, GMANews.TV
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