Maritime officials to start probe of 2 ferry mishaps

MANILA, Philippines - Maritime authorities will start investigating this week the two sea accidents that left 11 people dead and over 60 others missing last month.

Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo said the Special Board of Marine Inquiry will be convened to look into the collision of M/V Catalyn B and FV Anatalia on Christmas Eve and the sinking of M/V Baleno 9 on Dec. 26.

The SBMI, chaired by Commodore Luis Tuason, will conduct the inquiry on the Catalyn B and Anatalia on Thursday, according Lt. Cmdr. Armand Balilo, Coast Guard spokesman.

Investigation on the Baleno 9’s sinking, headed by Commodore Cecil Chen, has yet to be scheduled, he added.

Tamayo has set deadlines yesterday for search, rescue and retrieval operations for victims from Catalyn B and Baleno 9.

“The retrieval operations for the bodies should be completed hopefully up to this Saturday,” he told The STAR in a text message.

“We shall also be engaging the technical divers to be provided by ship owner to augment our present team of technical divers.”

Commodore Tuason, Coast Guard National Capital Region-Central Luzon district commander, expressed fear yesterday that the bodies of some passengers from Catalyn B have been carried by currents to the South China Sea.

Changes in the arrangement inside the ship and in the number of bodies were noticed when Coast Guard Auxiliary Captain Matthew Caldwell made his initial dive last week, he added.

Tuason said when Caldwell, an American deep sea diver, went down at 221 feet and circled the vessel twice last Dec. 28 he claimed to have seen 12 bodies, two of which were children.

“But when Caldwell dived for the second time last Saturday, Jan. 2, he did not find the two children and four adults he earlier spotted,” he said.

Tuason said they are now considering the possibility that the bodies might have been washed out to the South China Sea.

“There is a strong underwater current and the vessel had big wooden windows on both sides of the ship, so the water passes through the windows,” he said.

 However, it was possible that the bodies were still inside the ship and that they were only buried under the debris, Tuason said.

The death toll rose to five last Saturday afternoon after Caldwell recovered the bodies of Alex Masangkay, a senior engineer of a big chain of supermarket stores, and Lee Ann Tejoso, 23.

Tejoso’s elder brother Aldrich said that Lee Ann was the only girl among five siblings. They were all planning to go home to Lubang Island in Mindoro to celebrate their mother’s birthday on Dec. 24 and spend the holidays with family.

The three bodies found in the early days of the search and rescue operation were identified as those of Beverly Cabinillo, 36; Relly Morales, 71; and Welmar Tanayan, 27. Twenty-two passengers of Catalyn B are still missing.

Caldwell had to dive alone last Saturday since the Coast Guard had no equipment for deep-sea diving.

During the first dive, Caldwell took a video of the submerged vessel. It was during his second dive when he was able to get two bodies near the cabin window.

Each body was placed inside a cadaver bag. Caldwell injected air inside the bag and let it float to the surface where Coast Guard divers were waiting to pick them up.

The bodies were placed on the BRP Pampanga that returned to Coast Guard headquarters at around 8 p.m. last Saturday.

Initial information reaching Coast Guard headquarters showed that at around 2:25 a.m. of Dec. 24, the 79-gross ton Catalyn B, carrying 73 passengers and crew left Pier 2 at North Harbor in Manila at around 9 p.m. last Dec. 23.

It was supposed to reach Tilik, Lubang Island, Mindoro at 5 a.m. the following day.

The 369-gross ton Anatalia was returning to the Navotas Fishport from the Turtle Islands in Palawan at the time of the accident.

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

The Catalyn B was leaving, while the Anatalia was entering Manila Bay.

The vessels should have passed portside-to-portside or left of the other, according to Tuason. The Catalyn B rammed the rear starboard or right side of the Anatalia.

The passenger ship was operated by San Nicholas Shipping Lines, while the fishing boat is owned by FilMariner Aquaventures.                               

The bow of the wooden-hulled passenger vessel sustained a hole that caused it to sink in just two to three minutes, while the fishing vessel was only scratched. – Helen Flores, Evelyn Macairan