Passengers on stranded vessel hungry, thirsty, restive

MANILA, Philippines - After being stranded for more than 24 hours without food or water off Mindoro, passengers aboard a stranded vessel are getting restive and irked with the ship's crew. One of the passengers of the MV Starlight Pacific, which left Roxas in Mindoro for Caticlan in Aklan at 2 a.m. Thursday, scored the crew for deciding to leave port despite stormy weather. "Walang tubig na supply para inumin, dehydrated ang mga tao dito lalo noong umaga paglayag namin. Suka rito, suka roon. Baligtad sa allegation sa balita na maganda ang kalagayan ng tao (We no water to drink, many of us are dehydrated. Many are vomiting. Our situation is the opposite of what news reports are saying that our condition is good)," passenger Ariel Taton said in an interview on dzBB radio at 4 a.m. Friday. Except for one cup of noodles in the last 26 hours, he said, they have not received any food from the ship’s crew, adding that some passengers dozed off while wearing life vests. "Antay kami ng antay walang pagkain na dumarating sa amin. Namumuti na ang mata ng tao, yung mga bata gising (We have been waiting for food to come but nothing has arrived. Even the children are kept awake)," he added. The Philippine Coast Guard will look into possible lapses in judgment by the crew of the vessel that was stranded for more than 24 hours between Mindoro and Western Visayas. "May pagkukulang at titingnan namin iyan (Someone goofed, and we'll look into it)," Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Armand Balilo said in a separate interview on dzBB. Initial investigation showed the vessel left Roxas Port for Aklan at 2 a.m. Thursday, but was forced to drop anchor near Roxas after encountering strong waves from tropical depression "Cosme." Balilo said they will give the vessel clearance to get to port once weather conditions have improved. "We will coordinate with them para sa pangangailangan ng pasahero (We will pressure the shipping firm that owns the vessel to attend to passengers' needs)," Balilo said. But he said the Coast Guard was not to blame for the situation as the transportation department gave vessel crew "discretion" to push ahead with a trip even in Storm Signal 1. At the time the vessel left port Thursday, the weather bureau did not raise any storm signal. "Pinabayaan ang tripolante kung ano sapiin sa gitna. Kami mismo nangagamba na (The weather was already stormy before we left port but the crew pushed ahead. Even the passengers were worried about the weather)," Taton said. "Kagabi gusto akyatin si kapitan, sabi ko kausapin muna ang media (Last night many of the passengers were irked enough and were planning to confront the ship’s captain, but I asked them to calm down and see if we could get results by bringing our case to the media first)," he added. - GMANews.TV