Cargo ship with 70 aboard missing

ZAMBOANGA CITY — A wooden-hulled ferry with 70 people on board has been missing for five days in the Sulu Sea and is believed to have sunk, military and Coast Guard officials said yesterday.

Lt. Col. Danilo Servando, spokesman for the Southern Command’s civil affairs office, said the ML Sugar Diane-Z had cargo consisting of 700 sacks of copra or dried coconut meat bound for Zamboanga City when it developed engine trouble in rough weather around midnight of Jan. 28.

The missing vessel, skippered by Usun Yap, left the port of Mapun, Tawi-Tawi last Jan. 27 at around 2 a.m.

Servando said Yap last made radio contact with the Coast Guard station in Bongao when the ship’s engine failed, minutes before the sinking northwest of Pangutaran island, 50 nautical miles off Sulu.

"The ill-fated vessel sailed with the strong winds and giant waves while in the vicinity 50 nautical miles northwest of Pangutaran, and since then lost contact," Servando said.

According to Servando, two of the passengers were personnel of the Cost Guard station based in Taganak Island, and were identified as Petty Officer Maximo Medalla and Seaman 1 Reynaldo Jao.

He said latest reports revealed the vessel’s hull was badly damaged by waves and was taking in water fast.

Coast Guard official Lt. Arnold de la Cruz said, quoting the ship’s last radio report: "Passengers and crew were vomiting and felt weak."

An Air Force plane and a rescue vessel were sent to the area to find the stricken ferry but there was no sigh of the ML Sugar Diane-Z, Servando and De la Cruz said.

"Marine patrol has been launched to search signs for survivors within the vicinity where the vessel sank," Servando said.

A sister ship, ML Sugar Dianne-E, likewise proceeded to the area to help in the search and rescue operations.

De la Cruz said they were also looking into reports that another vessel, the MM Sea Horse, went down Jan. 26 but that eight of the 13 people on board had survived.

Thirteen people were reported to have been swept ashore in Taja Island, off Pearl Bank, bordering Sabah, and they are believed to be survivors of a shipwreck.

Some other passengers of the Sugar Diane-Z were listed as Anifa Jamil, Sharifa Hasiri, Sharifa Ikda Hasiri, Minda Abbah, Joelen Abbah, Indih Sahiral, Said Drilla, Marcelo Remocaldo, Maricar Rendon, Kiatchai Tan, Karuana Abtahi, Albie Nulkani, Julana Nulkani, Anang Amisani, Adelaida Busam, Kid Bussara, Rodel Cruzada, Cemani Artahi, Varsit Artahe, Lakida Artahe and Sabguta Artahe.

Meanwhile, a 65-year-old equipment operator was presumed dead after he was reported missing when a tanker sank in the waters off Albay Thursday, the Coast Guard said.

Coast Guard information officer Lt. Arman Balilo said the LCT 8 owned and operated by Sunwest Construction in Legazpi City, was loaded with a bulldozer when it encountered big waves and strong winds, causing it to sink some 300 meters off Barangay Alimsog in Sto. Domingo, Albay.

Balilo said six of the crew were able to swim safely to shore but their colleague, identified as Enrique Moral, was declared missing and presumed to have drowned. — With Nestor Etolle