All 165 passengers and crew members of the ill-fated motorbanca MBCA Mama Mary Chloe have been accounted for, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) reported Monday, June 27.
The PCG said that the lone missing passenger when the passenger boat caught fire and sank in Pres. Carlos P. Garcia, Bohol on Sunday afternoon, June 26, was eventually rescued later that day.
He was identified as Andy Toniacao, 32, of Brgy. San Juan, Hilongos, Leyte.
“Kasama siya sa narescue at inihatid sa Port of Hilongos pero umalis siya agad sa area dahil sa trauma kaya na-note siya as missing (He was among those rescued and escorted to Port of Hilongos but he immediately left the area due to trauma that’s why he was initially noted as a missing person),” the PCG explained.
Meanwhile, 135 out of the 164 survivors – including Toniacao – have already returned to their homes, the PCG noted.
The remaining 29 survivors remained under the supervision of the local government unit (LGU) of the President Carlos P. Garcia town for medical attention. They will be escorted by MV Our Lady of Smile from Ubay, Bohol to Bato, Leyte.
The incident also claimed the life of passenger Adolfo Ranola, 53, of Brgy. Poblacion, Trinidad, Bohol.
As of writing, the PCG said they have yet to determine the cause of fire that razed the vessel before it sank.
“We have yet to find out but we will look into it now that we have accounted for all of the passengers and crew members,” PCG spokesperson Commodore Armand Balilo said.
“The boat is not overloaded because it has a capacity of more that 250 passengers. The running figure right now is 165 but we are checking if there were passengers not included in the manifesto,” he added.
The incident, according to PCG, did not result to an oil spill.