STRANDED. M/V Filipinas Cebu owned by the Cokaliong Shipping Lines runs aground off the waters of Concepcion, Iloilo around 11 p.m. on Aug. 8, 2022. All 279 passengers were rescued and transferred to MV Filipinas Nasipit and BRP Panglao as of 4:40 p.m. on Tuesday (Aug. 9, 2022), according to Concepcion Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer Jhon Rey Asturias in a phone interview. (PNA photo courtesy of Jhon Rey Asturias)
ILOILO CITY – All 279 passengers on board the M/V Filipinas Cebu owned by the Cokaliong Shipping Lines that ran aground off waters of Sitio Miape, Barangay Igbon in Concepcion, Iloilo were rescued as of 4:40 p.m. Tuesday.
Concepcion Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (MDRRM) Officer Jhon Rey Asturias in a phone interview on Tuesday said that 270 passengers were transferred to M/V Filipinas Nasipit bound for Cebu while nine passengers were ferried by the BRP Panglao (FPB-2402) of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) going to Iloilo City.
M/V Filipinas Cebu left the port in Iloilo City at 7:14 p.m. on Monday bound for Cebu City.
At around 11 p.m. the vessel, while passing the waters of Concepcion, deviated from its original route due to “human error” hitting a shallow portion of the island barangay, Asturias said.
The place of incident is situated around three to four kilometers away from the town proper.
“There were no damage since there were no houses in the areas. It only hit the rocky portion of the sitio,” he said in a dialect.
Personnel of the PCG, PCG Auxiliary, and MDRRM responders were deployed when they received the information from one of the passengers on board the vessel around 12:41 a.m. on Tuesday.
The Bureau of Customs also deployed a powerboat with PCG Special Operations Unit.
The vessel’s skipper, 57-year-old Alexander Wahing, said all passengers and crew are “safe and free from injury”, as quoted by a PCG report.
The PCG’s Marine Environmental Protection Unit assessment found no traces of an oil spill.
“There was no leak, no oil spill. The vessel is stable although there was a small hole that was immediately repaired,” Asturias said.
Concepcion Mayor Milliard Villanueva sent relief goods for lunch to passengers and crew while waiting for the new vessel to transport them to their destination. (With a report from Raymond Carl Dela Cruz/PNA)
