HK bulk vessel suspected

MANILA, Philippines - The only ship within the vicinity when a Philippine fishing boat was rammed by a larger vessel last week was a Hong Kong-registered bulk carrier operated by an Australian company and with 29 Chinese crew members, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said yesterday.

The PCG is investigating if the M/V Peach Mountain was the ship involved in the collision in waters off Bolinao,Pangasinan, which killed one fisherman.

The PCG said that based on initial investigation, only the Peach Mountain was monitored in the vicinity at the time of the collision. The ship reportedly has 29 Chinese crewmembers.

A Chinese naval or maritime vessel was earlier thought to be the culprit in the collision, which took place amid the raging territorial row between the Philippines and China over Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal.

The shoal is 124 nautical miles from Zambales and is well within the country’s 200-mile exclusive economic zone.

But PCG commandant Vice Admiral Edmund Tan called Wednesday’s incident an “ordinary maritime accident” not related to the dispute at Panatag.

“We do not connect this to Panatag Shoal. It was just an accident that happened,” Tan said, adding the incident took place “very far” from the disputed shoal.

“That is actually not in Panatag… It happened far away from Panatag Shoal… This is about 138 nautical miles distance from Panatag Shoal,” Tan said. 

The survivors said they were not able to identify the ship but said it was twice the size of a SuperFerry vessel, and was colored blue and maroon. On its stern was painted “Hong Kong.”

A check with the PCG’s Coast Watch Center said a ship was monitored at 8:46 a.m. in the vicinity of Zambales. 

The collision took place at 1 p.m.

The ship reportedly came from Indonesia and was headed north either to Hong Kong or China.

“We are still investigating and coordinating with our counterpart from the Hong Kong Maritime Rescue Coordinating Center and the Port State Control in Tokyo, Japan and Singapore,” Tan said.

He added that while the area where the incident occurred was within Philippine territory, “there is freedom of navigation in the area so vessels can traverse in the area for as long as they do not do anything illegal.”

Based on data culled by the PCG, the fishing boat Axl John sailed from Bolinao, Pangasinan last June 18 with eight men on board.

Rough waters the following day caused the boat to take in water.

To prevent the boat from capsizing, the fishermen leashed it to a long bamboo pole that served as a marker for a payaw or artificial fishing ground located 78 nautical miles northwest of Bolinao.

On June 20, a passing oceangoing vessel hit the floundering boat.

“It was just an accident. (There) was stormy weather so the ship might have experienced zero visibility. It (fishing boat) would not have been seen on radar since it was made of wood. The radar can only detect steel,” Tan said.

Meanwhile, reports said Grandview Shipping Pty Ltd. with official address at Level 13, Northern Tower, 459 Collins Street, Melbourne, Australia, is the operator of Peach Mountain.

According to its official website, Grandview Shipping was established in 2005 and is mainly involved in ship chartering and operating for bulk commodity cargo.

“We handle different size cargoes from worldwide to China, and specialize in Handy to Handymax Australian, Indian, Alumnina shipments, as well as Capesize Iron Ore shipments from Brazil, Australia, South Africa to China,” the shipping firm’s online information revealed.

Grandview Shipping also has a representative office at Room 3118, Golden Emperor Building, No. 20 Nanjing Road, Hexi District, Tianjin, China.

In an earlier statement which it withdrew later from its official website, the PCG directly pointed to MV Peach Mountain as the vessel that rammed the fishing boat.

Bolinao Mayor Alfonso Celeste, in a radio interview yesterday, said the remains of the lone fatality Christopher Carbonel were brought back to town.

Celeste said they are coordinating with the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) and the PCG in the search for the four missing fishermen.