221 rescued
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) reported on Sunday that 221 passengers and crew were rescued when their interisland ferry ran aground as it neared port in Cebu City in the Visayas.
Among those rescued were several ranking government officials as well as Korean and Japanese tourists who were on board the fast craft “Weesam Express 8” on their way from the island province of Bohol to Cebu, said Commander Rolando Punzalan, the chief of the PCG station in Cebu.
Punzalan said the ferry left Tagbilaran City in Bohol at 4:30pm on Saturday and was to arrive in Cebu City two hours later at 6:30pm.
But 30 minutes before its expected arrival, Punzalan said the PCG received a distress signal from the captain who reported the ferry ran aground near Cebu’s neighboring city of Talisay.
Among the rescued passengers were Dr. Susana Madarieta, the regional head of the Department of Health; Efren Carreon, the regional chief of the National Economic and Development Authority; and Edward Villarta, the regional head of the National Bureau of Investigation.
One of the passengers, who requested anonymity, complained the PCG craft and other vessels arrived late at the scene, resulting in a long delay in the rescue efforts that were finally completed at 11pm on Saturday.
But Punzalan pointed out that as soon as they received the distress message, he immediately ordered the PCG vessel and other rescue boats nearby to rush to the scene.
He explained the rescue efforts took so long because of shallow waters, forcing them to fetch the 208 passengers and 13 crewmen through smaller boats before they could be brought to the bigger vessels moored hundreds of metres away.
Because the Philippines is an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands, ferries have become one of the most popular and cheapest means of public transport to bring people from one island to another.
But experts pointed out that the country has become the site of annual maritime disasters killing hundreds of people mainly due to overloading, badly-maintained and outmoded vessels as well as ill-trained crew.
Source: The Gulf Today
