A ROLL-ON/roll-off passenger ship with 239 people on board ran aground off Cebu yesterday, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) reported.
In a statement, the PCG said MV Filipinas Butuan ran aground about 1.5 nautical miles from Barangay Kaongkod in Madridejos town while avoiding a fish cage.
“According to the crew, the accident occurred while they were maneuvering to avoid a fish cage, causing it to drift in the shallow waters and eventually run aground,” the PCG said.
The ill-fated ship was on its way to Iloilo when the mishap happened, the PCG said. The ship departed Pier 1 in Cebu City at around 7 p.m. last Sunday.
The ship’s master coordinated with the Coast Guard Sub-Station Bantayan for assistance shortly after it figured in the mishap.
Personnel from the PCG, municipal disaster risk reduction and management office, and volunteer group Bantay Dagat brought three motorized bancas to ferry the passengers and crew of the ill-fated ship to Kota Park in Madridejos town.
A PCG vessel, BRP Malamawi, left Cebu City with one segment of an oil spill boom and one box of absorbent pads “to control oil leakage” from the grounded ship.
