Trans-Asia works to salvage vessel

CEBU, Philippines - The management of Trans-Asia Shipping Lines, Inc. is now working on for the immediate removal of its vessel, M/V Asia Malaysia, which sunk the other day in the vicinity of Ajuy town in Iloilo.

The management, in a press statement sent to The FREEMAN, stated that company recognizes the concerns of the said municipality on the possibility of an oil spill.

“The condition of the vessel is stable and there is no indication that its fuel oil tanks were breached?,” the statement read.

The vessel has around 5,700 liters of automotive diesel oil, around 1,300 liters of lube oil and around 18,000 liters of special fuel oil.

The company has also engaged PCLK Mercantile and Services, a highly experienced professional salvage company from Cebu, to inspect the vessel to make sure that all necessary precautions to prevent the oil from leaking would be taken.

The ill-fated ship encountered strong winds and big waves as it sailed from Cebu City to Iloilo City, according to the report of the management to the Cebu Coast Guard Station. All the passengers were rescued.

Lt. Cdr. Rolando Punzalan, Cebu Coast Guard Station Commander, in a separate interview said that the vessel has a capacity of 551 passengers but when the sinking happened, it has only 151 passengers and crew, based on the vessel’s manifest.

Punzalan said that a representative from the management went to his office yesterday to inform him that the latter is still collating all the necessary papers for them to submit their marine protest.

A marine protest is similar to an affidavit, as it gives details or accounts of events leading to a maritime incident.

A total of 178 people were rescued from the ill-fated vessel by M/V Filipinas Cebu and M/T Phil Visayas as well fishermen who were in the area.

Meanwhile, according to PAGASA-Cebu, typhoon Kabayan? has entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility.  Sea waters will be moderate to rough and shipping companies are advised to take precautionary measures.

“Pwede ra man makalarga ang mga barko pero kinahanglan magmatngon lang gyud,”? said Quiliano Torregosa, PAGASA-Cebu weather observer on duty.

Torregosa added that Cebu will continue to experience rainshowers and thunderstorms especially we are still in the onset of rainy season.

No Sign Of Oil Spill

The aerial survey conducted by the Philippine Coast Guard-Western Visayas yesterday morning had revealed that the dreaded oil spill has not happened yet.

Commodore Athelo Yba??ez, district commander of PCG-Western Visayas, was with the representative of Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor and some media personnel when they took off to survey the area where M/V Asia Malaysia sunk.

“Pero kung sakaling may pagtagas man na mangyari, handa naman tayo para doon,”? he said.

Yesterday morning, PCG vessels EDSA 2, BRP Corregidor, and patrol boat BS 7 also sailed to Ajuy, Iloilo to monitor the ship’s condition.

They carried some oil spill response equipment like oil spill boom, skimmers, and dispersants, which have been stock piled at the PCG district headquarters in La Paz district.

Further, EDSA 2 also carried some Coast Guard and PCG Auxiliary divers who would do underwater inspection on the sunken vessel.

But Ybanez said that they are also considering the weather condition before the underwater survey will start.

Earlier, residents of Ajuy and nearby coastal towns feared that what the sinking of M/V Asia Malaysia, which was operated by the Trans Asia Shipping Lines, Inc., would result to oil spill like what happened in Guimaras province several years back.

Dubbed as the worst oil spill ever in the country, the Guimaras oil spill is a massive oil spill at the Guimaras Strait.

The oil tanker M/T Solar 1, carrying more than two million liters of bunker fuel, sank on August 11, 2006 at the Guimaras Strait off the coast of the Guimaras and Negros Occidental provinces, causing some 500,000 liters of oil to pour into the strait. Siphoning the remaining 1.5 million liters from the sunken tanker, at a depth of more than 600 meters, was then made.

Reports from the Office of Civil Defense said that the oil spill adversely affected marine sanctuaries and mangrove reserves in three out of five municipalities in Guimaras Island and reached the shores of Iloilo and Negros Occidental.   —/NLQ   - (THE FREEMAN)