Cargo vessel goes down with 17T bags of rice Ship sinks after channel collision

Two cargo ships collided at the north entrance to the Mactan Channel Saturday night resulting in the sinking of the smaller of the two vessels.

MV Friendship X of Premiere Shipping based in Cebu City was on its way to Catbalogan, Eastern Samar to deliver 17,000 bags of NFA rice when it was hit by MV Mijara II, which was on its way to the dry dock in Liloan, Cebu from Iligan City.

From the initial investigation conducted by the Philippine Coast Guard, it was found that the 400-tonner MV Mijara II hit the superstructure at the middle portion of the starboard side of MV Friendship X, which has a gross tonnage of 193.

The collision took place at the Bantolinao Point between buoys 3 and 6 near the boundary of Mandaue City and Consolacion town, which is already very close to the destination of MV Mijara II.

Except for slight injuries sustained by the captain of the ship that sunk, no one else was reported injured in the incident.

Cebu Coastguard station commander Manolitio Malig-on said that the M/V Mijara II, which is owned by the Mijara East Venture Incorporated based in Cotabato City, left Kiwalan Pier in Iligan City last Friday night. It was headed to Cebu as the ship was already scheduled for dry-docking at the PKS Shipyard in barangay Tayud in Liloan town.

Olympio Jugalbot, skipper of MV Friendship X, reportedly decided to declare 'abandon ship' 20 minutes after the incident when he saw the extent of the damage brought by the collision.

There were 22 crewmen - 3 ship officers and 18 sailors - who were onboard MV Friendship X. The crew of MV Mijara II skippered by Jovencio Granados rescued the 22 men.

After pulling the crew of MV Friendship X to safety, MV Mijara II went straight to the PKS Shipyard sustaining only a minor damage on its bow.

It was in Liloan where staff of Premier Shipping fetched the survivors and brought them back to Cebu City. Except for Jugalbot, who suffered bruises on his left arm, the other crewmen did not sustain any injury and were all allowed to go home later that night.

Malig-on said that MV Friendship might have sustained a big hole after the collision, which caused the ship to submerge.

Although the Coast Guard is yet to determine where exactly the hole is, they are certain that the ship sustained a hole because of the oil spill in the seawaters where the incident happened.

An oil boom, which is used to contain oil and chemical spills, has been set up in the area while the Coast Guard has sprayed chemicals that aid in making the oil evaporate.

Malig-on said that they are waiting for the ship captains of both ships to file their marine protest so they can start the investigation.

Although, the two skippers have only been given 24 hours to submit such, they have been given until this morning so that they can have their marine protests notarized.

Malig-on said that his men have already put markings on the sight were the ship submerged yesterday for the safety of other ships so that they can avoid passing in the place were the incident took place.

This is the second maritime incident that happened in the Cebu area during the week. Last Thursday, several cabins of SuperFerry 12, which was bound for Cebu from Manila, caught fire near the northern tip of the province. All passengers and crew were also safe after that incident.