PHILIPPINE Coast Guard (PCG) authorities are trying to figure out what caused the fire that hit the M/V Wonderful Stars at the port of Ormoc early Saturday morning, which injured two officers.
More than 600 persons aboard the ferry survived, including one who jumped into the water. The gangplank had been lowered by the time someone noticed the smoke at 4:20 a.m., and the officers and crew immediately woke up everyone so they could get out safely.
Jose Emery “Joy” Roble, president and chief operations officer of Roble Shipping Lines, said in a press conference that the company will file a marine protest once all the facts are in.
Commodore Enrico Evangelista of the PCG-Central Visayas, quoting his counterpart in Eastern Visayas, said the vessel left Pier 4 in Barangay Tinago, Cebu City at 10:30 p.m. last Friday.
Firefighters declared the fire under control at 11 a.m. and completely put it out at 2 p.m., some 10 hours after it started.
The Coast Station in Ormoc City immediately contacted the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) and the Ormoc City Government to help put out the fire and launch search and rescue operations.
According to Roble, Wonderful Stars carried 544 passengers on its trip from Cebu to Ormoc.
Two members of the crew, identified at press time as Bentoy, an oiler, and Guinocor, a second mate, suffered burns while assisting the passengers, but were reportedly out of danger.
Roble said he instructed all the 62 crew and officers headed by Captain Rodolfo Saavedra to get ready for the investigation by the Coast Guard and Maritime Industry Authority (Marina).
The vessel was insured for P65 million.
It carried fruits, vegetables, flowers and 23 vehicles (six trucks and 17 cars), of which only five were saved, Roble said.
Second
The ferry reached Ormoc before the fire broke out, but most of the passengers stayed and waited for daybreak.
“We assisted passengers who left their belongings in the vessel while escaping from the fire and we provided them free breakfast and transportation to their residences,” Roble said.
Roble Shipping, which started operations in 1985, has 20 vessels including cargo ships that serve routes between Cebu and Hilongos, Baybay and Ormoc in Leyte and Catbalogan, Samar.
It was the second time a fire hit one of the company’s vessels. The first one hit M/V Heaven Star.
Roble said that Wonderful Stars was a 1,200-gross-tonnage vessel and had been with the company for 10 years since they bought it in Japan.
He said the ferry was used to bring relief goods to survivors of typhoon Yolanda in November 2013 and the landslide in Barangay Guinsaugon, St. Bernard, Southern Leyte in 2006. Just last month, it ferried the caskets of victims when the motor banca Kim Nirvana capsized near the Ormoc City port.
Drills
Roble said that the crew’s skills in crowd and crisis management paid off.
“We conduct weekly fire drills. We don’t hire crew and officers who have not undergone fire drills,” Roble said.
Lt. Jim Alagao, public affairs officer of the military’s Central Command based in Cebu, said the fire broke out some 30 minutes after the ferry docked.
Alagao also said that the two crew members were brought to a hospital for “wounds and cuts, shortness of breath and minor burns.”
Last month, more than 60 died when a motor banca capsized amid strong waves shortly after leaving the Ormoc port. (With AP/Nicko Tubo/VR/Sunnex)