Survey dives for Princess of the Stars begin

MANILA, Philippines – Despite erratic weather conditions, divers from two salvaging companies and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) have started doing “survey dives” near Sibuyan Island in Romblon to determine the best way to remove the toxic cargo inside the capsized M/V Princess of the Stars.

PCG commandant Vice Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo yesterday said divers from Titan Salvaging Corp. and its local counterpart Harbor Star, backed up by PCG divers, were on their second survey dive since Wednesday.

“Yesterday, they continued their underwater survey. Apart from the divers, they also used an ROV (remotely operated video camera) to determine the location of the hazardous cargo inside the ship,” said Tamayo.

Since the 23,000-gross ton passenger and cargo vessel was turned over, they expected the contents to have tumbled inside the ship. On board were the endosulfan cargo of Del Monte Philippines Inc., chemicals from Bayer Crop Science and 250,000 liters of bunker oil.

Commodore Cecil Chen, PCG-Southern Tagalog district commander, said the first survey dive took place last Sept. 24 to conduct a risk analysis.

“This is to assess the best way to remove the dangerous cargo. They could either bring out the container van as a whole or they could go inside the ship and remove the cargo by piece,” Chen said.

But a source, who requested anonymity, said that there is still no definite time as to when the salvaging companies would actually start extricating the cargo.

There is a possibility that they would continue with the underwater survey for the next few days.

“We are hopeful that there would be a significant development in their operations by next week,” the source said.

Task Force Princess of the Stars chairperson undersecretary for maritime transport Ma. Elena Bautista originally planned to commence the operations last Wednesday, Sept. 24.

She was even elated to announce last Sept. 20 that they would be able to do it three days ahead of schedule or on Sept. 21.

But the arrival of typhoon “Nina” last Sunday forced them to postpone their plans.

Some officials even thought that the arrival of storm “Ofel” would cause further delay.

“I was surprised to learn that they went into the water last Wednesday. But it was good that we were able to meet the timeline,” said Tamayo.

While the private firms have laid out their oil spill boom in the event of an oil leak, the PCG has also sent two of its own teams from the Marine and Environmental Protection Command (MERCOM) to the area.

Out of the more than 800 passengers and crew of the Princess of the Stars, only about 32 persons survived, more than 200 have been confirmed dead and about 500 are still considered missing.

During the initial search and rescue operations, divers put their activities on hold when it was found that the ship had toxic cargo.

Additional affidavits

The Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) yesterday submitted additional affidavits to the three-member panel of the Department of Justice that is probing the criminal liability of Sulpicio Lines Inc. (SLI) executives over the capsizing of the Princess of the Stars.

PAO chief Persida Acosta submitted 18 more affidavits of relatives of the victims of the ferry disaster as well as the affidavit of survivor Francisco Batula.

According to Acosta, Batula is willing to testify that the crew of the ill-fated vessel did not extend assistance to the passengers even though the vessel was already tilting to its side and that the order to abandon ship was relayed too late to the passengers.

Also yesterday, Commodore Luis Tuason, former Philippine Coast Guard National Capital Region and Central Luzon chief, submitted to the DOJ panel the passenger manifest of the sunken ferry. –With Mike Frialde