EDITORIAL - That outbound lane problem

The first day of the investigation conducted by the Special Board of Marine Inquiry into the recent tragedy has revealed a chilling account of the events leading to the accident. The account was made by someone from a third vessel, not party to the accident, but who was called to shed light on what really happened on that fateful night of August 16.   

Trans Asia Nine captain Galipher Ian Faller said that the Sulpicio Express Siete, which just left the Cebu port, was travelling on the inbound lane. The Trans Asia vessel was also leaving Cebu that night on its way to Cagayan de Oro City and was overtaking the Sulpicio ship moments before the latter collided with 2GO's MV St. Thomas Aquinas.

Based on Faller's statement, it seemed Sulpicio Express Siete was navigating on the wrong lane. But such a claim is not yet enough for us to conclude that the Sulpicio vessel was at fault in Cebu's worst sea tragedy in recent memory.

It's unfair to draw conclusion in this time when the SBMI still has a lot to do to come up with a decision. Let us leave the board alone. It's premature to blame any of the two parties involved when the investigation is still in its infancy.  

However, delving into the matter of who really was at fault was the least of our concern. There is a grave problem that concerned government agencies must immediately act if we don't want an occurrence of the same tragedy to happen.

And we are talking about the concern related to the fact that the outbound lane at the south entrance of the Cebu harbor is shallow. Reports said that outgoing vessels are forced to take on the inbound lane for fear of running aground if they used the outbound lane.

Now the big question is that why is the government not doing anything on this concern? It had to take a tragedy costing countless lives for the public to know about the scary situation at the south entrance of Cebu harbor.

The recent tragedy could have been prevented had the authorities fixed the outbound lane problem. As we have said, it's too to early blame any of the two parties involved. But the government neglect of the problem played a major role in the disaster.