All crewmen, passengers of stranded ship safe

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) yesterday said all 618 passengers and 25 crewmen of M/V SuperFerry 1, which ran aground off Palawan last Sunday night, have been safely rescued.

In a statement, the PCG said 118 other officers and crewmembers of the passenger ship reportedly decided to stay on the ship and wait for the expected high tide because they were hoping to remove the vessel from its aground position.

Information reaching the PCG headquarters in Manila showed that the ship was sailing from Puerto Princesa City to Coron, also in Palawan, when it ran aground near Ditaytayan Island in Coron town.

PCG vessels and other seacraft rushed to the site to rescue the passengers and bring them to shore where medical teams were ready to provide them with medical assistance.

“It was a good thing that the weather was good and there were many rescuers. The vessel was stuck less than 20 nautical miles from Coron, Palawan, so it was accessible to the rescuers,” said Lt. Cmdr. Algier Ricafrente, PCG spokesman.

The PCG, using the M/V Banton Pearl and M/V Cathalyn-E 1, conducted search and rescue operations. Other vessels that came to help M/V SuperFerry 1 were M/V Josille-2, M/V Sitti Razna, and BRP EDSA and MCS-3002, both of the PCG.

The maritime agency also dispatched its PCG Islander stationed in Puerto Princesa City and its helicopter Helo 1636 that flew in from the Manila International Airport.

Since some of the passengers were on their way to Manila, the M/V SuperFerry 2 was sent to pick them up. The ship came from Bacolod City and was headed to Manila, too.