Vietnamese ship remains stuck on Albay shore

MANILA, Philippines - The Vietnamese cargo vessel that ran aground off Legazpi City last Saturday due to strong waves brought by Tropical Depression Gorio remains stuck at the Albay Gulf shore, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said yesterday.

Commodore Aaron Reconquista, PCG Bicol district commander, said they experienced difficulty in removing the 2,999-gross ton MV Minh Tuan 68 from the shore of Barangay San Roque in Legazpi, Albay.

Last Sunday, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) hired the tugboat Stella Maris to pull out the Vietnamese ship but it did not budge.

Yesterday, the Indonesian-owned tugboat Berau Coal 22 tried to pull the cargo vessel with the towing rope tied at its front. But after two hours, efforts to remove the ship proved futile when the rope broke.

PCG personnel had to wait for four drums of bunker fuel to be put into the ship to start its engine.

Reconquista said the ship’s stern was buried in two feet of sand.

He ordered the towing efforts terminated at 2:15 p.m. because of low tide.

He said they would make another attempt to pull out the vessel from the shore today during high tide.

The PCG official said they would try to dig the ship’s stern and its propeller using a backhoe before another towing attempt would be carried out.

“If we still fail in all these efforts, we will be forced to recommend a more costly salvaging scheme. We will be obliged to hire the services of a professional company that specializes in ship salvaging and it may cost millions of pesos,” Reconquista told The STAR.

He said the captain of the Vietnamese ship agreed to shoulder the expenses for the salvage efforts.

The ship was seized by the BOC after it attempted to unload its cargo of 94,000 bags of smuggled rice in September last year at the port of Legazpi City. – With Evelyn Macairan