Baleno 9 owner asks Marina to withdraw order

MANILA, Philippines - The ship owner of the sunken M/V Baleno 9 has asked the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) to withdraw its order to the shipping firm to recover the bodies that might have been trapped inside the vessel now lying more than 1,000 feet underwater after sinking off Verde Island in Batangas last Dec. 26.

Arthur Lim, lawyer of Besta Shipping Lines, said that “there is a directive to us to retrieve the bodies. We are asking that this (order) be deleted or be held in abeyance pending the assessment of the Marina that it is impossible at this time or in the future.

“If Marina gives an order, we want to comply, but if it is impossible (to do) we might be found (in) breach of Marina’s directive,” he added.

Besta’s position follows the earlier pronouncement of Marina administrator Ma. Elena Bautista that it would be difficult to recover the bodies still trapped inside the ship’s wreckage that lies in very deep waters.

“While we grieve for the unfortunate deaths of the passengers and share the desire of the families to retrieve the bodies and give them a decent burial... the retrieval in that situation is impossible,” said Lim.

He added that the cost of retrieval would be “too much” for the company, although the expense would only be secondary to finding the bodies.

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) would also encounter problems diving at this depth since their training and equipment only enable them to dive to 150 feet.

Lim represented Besta Shipping Lines, the captain and crew of roll-on roll-off ship Baleno 9 in yesterday morning’s initial hearing on whether the maritime agency should cancel the firm’s Certificate of Public Convenience (CPC).

There are speculations that there could be bodies of passengers trapped inside the wreck. It has been 12 days since the maritime incident and out of the 123 passengers and crew on board, there are still 44 people missing. There were still 73 survivors and the PCG have recovered six bodies.

The shipping lines also earlier filed a Motion for Lifting of Suspension Order, in the Alternative, for Permission to Carry Cargo.

The company argued that their company is a major player in the Batangas-Calapan (Oriental Mindoro) route and since they have been suspended, the remaining shipping lines left to operate the sea route are reportedly incapable of servicing the high volume of cargo during this peak season.

By allowing them to resume transporting cargo, they would avoid incidents of overloading of vessels.

Some of their loyal clients are also insisting on dealing only with Besta Shipping Line and not with the other operators in the area.

They are also asking Marina to immediately conduct an inspection audit on their remaining vessels to prove that they have complied with all the agency’s safety requirements.

“Our vessels are available for inspection by the surveyors. We hope that the inspection would be conducted immediately so the lifting (of the suspension order) would be acted on,” attorney Lim said.

Marina also instructed them to submit daily reports on the financial assistance it has rendered to the families of the deceased. They were also told to give the names and records of the vessel’s captain and ship’s crew and the passenger manifest, as well as the inspection records of Besta’s other ships.

The Baleno 9 left the port of Calapan in Oriental Mindoro late in the evening of Dec. 26 on its way to Batangas. The vessel sank some 1.6 nautical miles southeast of San Agapito, Verde Island in Batangas.

The vessel reportedly sank to a depth of more than 1,100 feet but the Marina administrator said that it does not pose danger to navigation so there is no urgent need to retrieve the ship. But she admitted that if there were bodies trapped inside the vessel, there would be difficulty in recovering them considering the depth and lack of equipment.

Divers employ Pinoy ingenuity

Lieutenant Commander Marco Gines, deputy chief PCG-Special Operations Group, disclosed yesterday that scuba divers employed ingenuity to recover the bodies of four victims trapped inside the wreckage of the sunken M/V Catalyn B that sank after ramming a metal-hulled fishing vessel off Cavite last Dec. 24.

Gines said PCG divers used improvised equipment to recover from the wreckage last Wednesday the remains of seven-month-old Rhein Shanel Abeleda; Mario Redublo, 63; Ester Quinones, 54; and Ailyn Gasmen, 38.

He said the divers were forced to descend to 221 feet to reach the sunken vessel even though PCG divers have been trained to dive down to only 150 feet.

“We knew that it would be a risky dive, this was the first time that we dived to 221 feet. But we thought of the families of the passengers, like in the case of baby girl Rhein, we are happy because now they would be able to give her a proper burial.”

He added that it is also inherent among Filipinos to help each other, especially those in need.

Gines said that for this mission, the divers improvised their equipment and made sure they had contingency measures ready. He also selected 21 experienced divers, including personnel from Cavite and Batangas.

He said the divers used mixed gases of helium, nitrogen and oxygen. The three gases are very expensive and the PCG team admitted that they lack the training to dive as deep as 221 feet.

Gines said their equipment was not able to withstand the deep-water pressure. The tank hose and the two regulators of the compression air tanks were damaged and have to be replaced. A regulator reportedly cost P20,000.

A diver carried two tanks of oxygen, instead of the usual one tank, so they could reach the wreckage.

As a precautionary measure, they also assigned standby divers at certain depths and oxygen tanks dangling from ropes attached to their buoy.

“There were two divers stationed each at 40 feet and 120 feet. The divers at 40 feet had two standby tanks with them while at 120 feet there was only one tank to be used if necessary. This way, if a diver runs out of oxygen, they do not have to swim back to the surface and just make a stopover at one of the stations,” Gines said.

In their planned dive, they also placed decompression stops at 40 feet, 30 feet and 20 feet. 

“At that depth, our diver could only stay for 15 minutes, but underwater the movements are slow and the divers can do a lot in 15 minutes.” He added that they also dived in batches, with one team descending as another ascended. There are two divers per team.

Some of the bodies they saw were trapped under beds and bags.

Baby girl’s body recovered

“She looked like an angel,” said Gines as he described the body of Baby Rhein who was found under a bed of the Catalyn B, a vessel owned by the San Nicholas Shipping Lines.

Gines recalled that the toddler, who wore pink overalls and a yellow shirt and had a pink plastic pacifier, was lying face up when he found her in the passenger area, near the rear portion of the 28.15-meter long wooden-hulled boat.

“The baby was not yet bloated when we brought her up to the surface and she looked like an angel. It did not appear that she suffered,” said the seasoned diver.

Gerean Abeleda, an aunt of Rhein who went to the PCG headquarters to claim the body, was very proud of her niece.

“She is really one of a kind. When she was alive, even when she was sick, she hardly threw fits or gave us a hard time. Even now that she is dead, it seemed as if she did not suffer that much,” Abeleda said.

She said that Rhein was with her father Renel, mother Aiza and aunt Cecil during the trip but the bodies of the elder relatives have not yet been recovered.

The wooden ferry Catalyn B with 73 passengers and crew left Pier 2 at the North Harbor in Manila and was supposed to reach its destination at Tilik, Lubang Island in Mindoro on Dec. 24.

The second vessel was the 369-gross ton steel-hulled fishing boat F/V Anatalia, owned by FilMariner Aquaventure, which just came from a fishing trip in the Turtle Islands and was on its way to the Navotas fish port.

The two vessels collided at the mouth of Manila Bay or 2.8 nautical miles northwest of Limbones Island, Cavite.

The vessels should have passed portside-to-portside but the Catalyn B rammed the rear starboard or right side of the fishing vessel.

The bow of the wooden-hulled Catalyn B sustained a hole and sank after a few minutes while the fishing vessel was only scratched.

The PCG were able to conduct two dives last Wednesday but there are still several compartments that they have not checked.

PCG-National Capital Region-Central Luzon (NCR-CL) district commander Commodore Luis Tuason Jr. said that they would be taking a one-day break to fix their equipment and give the divers time to rest before they embark on their next mission. Their operation would resume Friday through the weekend.

Tuason also assured the families of the victims that they would not stop their search and retrieval operations until all the bodies from the vessel have been recovered. The collision has so far resulted in 10 fatalities, 17 still missing and 46 survivors.

Lemuel Fabula, president and general manager of the San Nicholas Shipping Lines, admitted that they rely on the capabilities of the PCG since they have no divers. “The only thing we can do is coordinate with Commodore Tuason. We do not have contact with any diver.”

The firm has been experiencing financial difficulty since the Marina ordered their seven remaining vessels to be temporarily suspended. Its regular routes are from Manila to Lubang Island in Mindoro and from Manila to Palawan.

“You must understand that when our operations were suspended, the only thing that is happening is that money goes out of the company. There is no money coming in. It is a good thing that the PCG is not taking advantage of our situation,” he added.

There are speculations that lack of communication and coordination between the two ships might have caused the incident.

The mouth of Manila Bay is considered the busiest sealane in the country and some vessels take precaution when passing through so that they would not run aground in the shallow area.

The Special Board of Marine Inquiry (SBMI) is set to conduct its hearing next week to determine if the shipping lines or ships’ crew should be held administratively liable for the collision.