CALAPAN CITY, Oriental Mindoro – The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) is set to conduct an investigation on a maritime incident involving a Roll-on, roll-off passenger vessel that ran aground in the shoreline of Banton, Romblon on Sunday, July 16.
MV Maria Helena is tilted 10 degrees on its portside when it ran aground off the shoreline of Barangay Nasunugan, Banton, Romblon, on Sunday, July 16. (Photo courtesy of PCG District Southern Tagalog via Jerry Alcayde)
Commodore Geronimo Tuvilla, district commander of PCG District Southern Tagalog, said they are now gathering all relevant facts on the listing of MV Maria Helena of Montenegro Shipping which is now stuck 100 meters off a rocky shoreline in Barangay Nasunugan.
Tuvilla said one aspect that they will be looking into is the vessel captain’s decision to bring MV Helena to the vicinity waters of Banton Island.
Initial investigation showed that the vessel left Lucena Port in Lucena City, Quezon, for San Agustin Port in Tablas, Romblon at about midnight of July 16 with 93 passengers, 34 crew members, including the captain, and 16 rolling cargoes.
MV Helena Capt. Elmo Sumocol claimed that the listing occurred after a tire of one of the cargo vehicles blew up, which reportedly broke the lashing.
At about 1:30 a.m., the PCG-Marine Environmental Protection Group-Romblon onboard a speedboat of the provincial government of Romblon immediately conducted an assessment on the possible source of oil spill and reported later that they recovered four drums of oil-water mixture by means of manual scooping.
MEP-Romblon reported that the spill occurred when the vessel was taking in sea water and reached the vessel’s bilge tank.
Oil sheens were also sighted outside the vessel but were dispersed and evaporated later, MEP-Romblon said.
Tuvilla said all 93 passengers, 84 of whom were adults and nine children, were safely rescued by MV Maria Helena’s sister ship, MV Maria Teresa, and brought to Port of Banton about 2 a.m.
The Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) has suspended the Passenger Ship Safety Certificate of MV Maria Helena effective July 16 until further notice.
Engr. Rizal J. Victoria, director of Marina Region 4, said the suspension was in accordance with relevant laws and Marina’s Ship Survey System (3S) as well as Marina Circular No. MS 2023-01 and Marina Administrative Order No. 11-19 which provide that the safety certificate of a vessel shall be suspended when the ship has been involved in maritime incidents such as grounding and engine dearrangement.