Missing passengers in Coron sea vessel tragedy lowered to 8

MANILA, Philippines — The number of missing passengers from a ferry that caught fire while sailing in the waters off Coron, Palawan over a week ago has been lowered from 12 to eight.

This developed after the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) confirmed that there were four passengers listed in the ticket manifest who did not board the M/V June Aster in Manila on Sept. 8.

PCG spokesperson Cmdre. Noemie Cayabyab said that on Wednesday, the PCG located and talked to the four “missing” passengers.

Cayabyab said three of the four passengers said they were supposed to board the June Aster, but they mistakenly booked the wrong trip, which was Manila to Coron instead of Coron to Manila.

“The fourth passenger booked another ticket for a different vessel, which departed Manila for Coron on Sept. 5,” Cayabyab said.

Following verification and reconciliation of the ticket manifest, the PCG revised the total number of passengers of June Aster from 132 to 128.

As of Wednesday, the PCG’s details showed 77 fatalities, 43 survivors and eight missing.

The PCG said it has collected 58 drums of oily water mixture from the engine room of the vessel during dewatering operations.

An aerial survey covering northeast of Barangay Turda in Coron toward southwest of Occidental Mindoro is being conducted as part of the ongoing search efforts, the PCG said.

Roro vessel runs aground

Meanwile, 114 people were rescued from a roll-on roll-off vessel that ran aground in the waters off Occidental Mindoro shortly after midnight yesterday.

The M/V RoRo Master 5 was sailing from Batangas to Abra de Ilog in Occidental Mindoro when it hit shallow waters at around 12:45 a.m.

“Four life rafts and a lifeline secured toward the shoreline were used to rescue the passengers,” Cayabyab said.

By 6 a.m., all passengers had been transported to the port of Abra de Ilog with the help of members of the provincial disaster risk reduction and management office, and the Orange Navigation Inc., operator of the RoRo Master 5.

“Initial assessment indicated the vessel hit a rocky seabed with no marine protected area. No oil spill was detected in the surrounding waters,” Cayabyab said.

Reports said the navigational equipment of the RoRo Master 5 malfunctioned, causing the vessel to deviate from its original course.