Board of Marine Inquiry to interview sea tragedy's survivors

MANILA, Philippines - The eight-man Board of Marine Inquiry (BMI) is set to travel to General Santos and Iloilo this week to listen to the tales of the surviving passengers of the ill-fated M/V SuperFerry 9, which sank off the Zamboanga Peninsula last Sept. 6, leaving 10 people dead.

Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) director Emerson Lorenzo, vice chairman of the BMI, said they will spend four days interviewing some of the passengers of M/V SuperFerry 9.

The panel will be in General Santos on Sept. 23-24, and in Iloilo on Sept. 25-26.

“We will be going to these provinces to interview the passengers to help us in the investigation. We would match their testimony with the ship’s crew,” Lorenzo said.

Coast Guard stations in General Santos and Iloilo have assisted the BMI in locating the survivors of the sea tragedy.

Meanwhile, Coast Guard commander Ramon Reblora, a BMI member, said the use of watertight containers would be one of their recommendations after learning that the officers and crew of M/V SuperFerry 9 failed to secure ship documents that are vital in the ongoing investigation.

Reblora, a lawyer, said the ship’s personnel had ample time to save the documents from the time Capt. Jose Yap made the “abandon ship” declaration at around 3:30 a.m. until the vessel capsized at around 9:30 a.m. of Sept. 6.

“They had six hours to secure the documents. They had so much time. Every time a ship sinks, we are confronted with the problem of the absence of documents,” he said.

Apart from determining the cause of the tragedy, the BMI is also tasked to look into the administrative liabilities of the ship owner and the vessel’s officers and crew and make recommendations to prevent a repeat of similar incidents.

Last Thursday, the M/V SuperFerry 9 radio operator John Gervacio, 36, told the investigating panel that when the ship started tilting to the starboard (right) side by 25 to 30 degrees, the ship documents were thrown to one side of the ship and that they immediately picked these up.

When asked by chief engineer Diosdado Ramos, a BMI member, if the documents were placed in a steel box or a watertight container, Gervacio said the papers were just kept in a plastic box with holes in it and which had no lid.

He said he totally forgot about the documents when he assisted a woman and a child in distress.

Reblora said Gervacio was the one responsible in securing the documents.

Nevertheless, the BMI asked the ship owner, Aboitiz Transport Service Corp., to submit duplicate copies of whatever documents that it may have.

The panel also asked the chief mate, Francis Garcia, to try to recreate his computation for the stowage plan of the ship.

Initial investigation showed that the 7,268 gross ton M/V SuperFerry 9 left General Santos City on Sept. 5 for a two-day voyage to Iloilo.

At around 3:30 a.m. of Sept. 6, Sunday, the vessel tilted 35 degrees toward its starboard side. Its captain reportedly made the “abandon ship” declaration, but some passengers opted to wait for the sun to shine before jumping into the water, believing that it would be easier for search and rescue vessels to see and rescue them. 

More than 900 people survived the tragedy.