SIX crew members died when their fishing banca caught fire off Naga City, Cebu last Wednesday night, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) reported yesterday.
Six other crew members of the ill-fated banca, named King Bryan, were rescued, one of them in critical condition, while three others had minor injuries.
The incident occurred at around 8 p.m. about 4.5 nautical miles from the shoreline of the city.
An explosion occurred before the fire, said Capt. Jerome Lozada, commander of the Coast Guard Station Central Cebu, citing the initial result of their investigation.
“Based on the initial inquiry from the one who introduced himself as the captain, an explosion occurred before the banca caught fire,” Lozada told a radio interview.
Lozada said the explosion occurred while some of the crew members were fixing one of the banca’s two engines that encountered trouble.
“They cannot ascertain where the explosion originated because they were fixing one of the engines at that time. There was a sudden explosion but they could not determine the cause of the explosion,” said Lozada.
Lozada said the body of one of the fatalities was mangled, apparently due to the explosion.
“After we sighted the burning fishing motor banca, we immediately conducted a search and rescue operation and we were able to rescue six survivors,” said Lozada.
He said two of the fatalities were retrieved late Wednesday night, two were recovered at dawn yesterday, while the other two were found at around 7 a.m. yesterday.
“Of the 12 crew members, six survived and six of them were casualties,” said Lozada. “One of the survivors is in critical condition at a hospital due to third-degree burns.”
Asked if there was foul play, Lozada said: “We cannot yet conclude; we are still in the process of investigating the incident.”
Lozada said they still cannot conduct extensive interviews of the survivors because they are still at the “trauma stage.”
“We are looking at all angles,” said Lozada, adding investigators are due to inspect the burnt banca as part of the ongoing probe.
