Vietnamese ship finally removed by high tide

MANILA, Philippines - The Vietnamese cargo vessel which had been stuck on the shore of Albay since Saturday afternoon was finally removed during high tide Monday night.

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said yesterday the captain of MV Minh Tuan 68 was able to maneuver the vessel and removed it from shore when the tide reached 1.2 meters at 10:45 p.m.

“We were all surprised when the 2,999-gross ton vessel started to move after we instructed the ship’s captain to start its engine for easier towing,” PCG Bicol district commander Commodore Aaron Reconquista told The STAR.

Reconquista believed that the high tide and the earlier towing by two tugboats, Indonesian-owned Berau Coal 22 and Stella Maris, helped in releasing the propeller and stern of the ship.

It took the Vietnamese crewmen 15 minutes to bring the ship back to the Legazpi Port anchorage area, the PCG said.

PCG divers have started conducting a hull inspection of the ship to check if the vessel sustained major damage when it drifted and ran aground on the shore of Barangay San Roque in Legazpi, Albay at the height of Tropical Storm Gorio on June 29.

“If there is no problem and with the approval of the Bureau of Customs (BOC), we would escort the ship to the Sula port in Bacacay town for safekeeping,” Reconquista said.

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