PCG to check if sunken ship in Cebu endangers navigation

MANILA, Philippines - Divers are returning this month to the site where the M/V St. Thomas Aquinas sank to determine if it poses danger to vessels passing through the narrow strait of Lawis Ledge in Talisay, Cebu. 

The 50-kilometer Lawis Ledge is a passageway used by many ships entering and leaving Cebu. 

Commodore William Melad, Philippine Coast Guard-Central Visayas District commander, said it was the vessel owner, 2Go Travel, which decided to send technical experts to the site, to be accompanied by divers of the PCG’s Special Operations Group. 

Melad said the divers would return to the site almost five months after the 11,405-gross-ton passenger-cargo ship figured in a collision with M/V Sulpicio Express Siete, a containerized cargo ship, in Lawis Ledge, killing 116 people. Twenty-one passengers were listed missing, while 733 survived the tragedy. 

“We agreed that they would be sending technical experts to survey the M/V St. Thomas Aquinas. It would be held during the first or second week of January. We would be sending PCG divers to have a more or less clear picture of the present situation of the sunken vessel,” Melad said. 

He said PCG personnel have been preoccupied with relief operations in areas ravaged by Typhoon Yolanda.

Melad said there is still no “closure” in their operations for M/V St. Thomas Aquinas since the vessel lies 50 meters under water and the PCG wants it removed.

“The PCG maintains that the submerged vessel remains a potential danger and we have already informed them about this. While it sank some 50 meters deep, clear from the passing vessels, the (shipping) containers on board the ship are potential risks,” he said. 

Majority of the shipping containers were filled with food items, he said. 

“Although the possibility may be remote, but there could be a reaction, for instance, if there is an earthquake (and jolt the vessel or shipping containers from the current state) and surface. Second, a daring diver might try to dive and cut parts of the ship and turn it into scrap metal. (The shipping containers) might be loosened and could float and pose danger (to passing ships)… So the position of the Coast Guard is that we have to remove it,” he added. 

After the scheduled dive, Melad said he expects 2Go Travel to tell the PCG about its position. “They might make their position on whether there is still a need to remove the ship or they might try to assess if the wreck removal is possible,” he said. 

He said he has raised the question to the salvors who gave assurance that with the right equipment and the technology available, the job can be done.