'Quinta' strands passengers in W. Visayas

ILOILO CITY – Some 500 passengers were stranded here yesterday as the Philippine Coast Guard banned all vessels from sailing due to tropical depression “Quinta.”

The passengers, stranded here and in the port of Dumangas, were bound for Guimaras and Negros Occidental, including Bacolod City.

A number of passengers were also stranded at the Jordan and Buenavista ports in Guimaras.

A Negros Navigation ship bound for Metro Manila with a scheduled stopover in Bacolod City was also not allowed to leave the Iloilo port, Capt. Eduardo Fabricante, Coast Guard station commanding officer, told The STAR.

Fabricante said they immediately informed shipping companies, including ferries bound for Guimaras, that Memorandum Circular No. 06-08 enforcing the sailing ban had taken effect.

The circular prohibited all vessels, regardless of gross tonnage, from leaving ports once a storm signal had been hoisted over the area, he said.

Vessels in the different ports in Negros Occidental, Antique, Capiz and Aklan, including those plying the Caticlan-Boracay route, were also prohibited from sailing because of the inclement weather.

Chief Superintendent Isagani Cuevas, chairman of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council, has activated all provincial disaster coordinating councils in Western Visayas.