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Philippine officials on Tuesday grounded all passenger ships owned by a company that owned a ferry that sank in the south, killing at least 18 people and more than 300 others who were rescued.
Ten people, mostly the crew and captain, are still missing from the M/V Trisha Kerstin 3, which sank early Monday near an island in Basilan province. Coast Guard Adm. Ronnie Gavin said the Coast Guard and Navy continued to search the waters where the oil sheen was found.
As part of the search, Coast Guard divers and remotely piloted drones will be deployed to locate and examine the wreckage, which is estimated to be 76 meters (249 feet) below the surface, he said.
The steel-hulled passenger and cargo ferry, which had three decks, sank near the village of Baru Baruc Island in Basilan province as it was en route from the southern port city of Jolo. zamboanga There were 317 passengers and 27 crew members on board.
Transport Secretary Giovanni Lopez said the coast guard initially reported there were 332 passengers on board, but later said 15 of them decided at the last minute not to board.
He said at least 316 people had been rescued and 18 bodies had been recovered, including that of a baby.
Lopez said all passenger ships owned by the ferry’s owner, Aleson Shipping Lines, Inc., were grounded indefinitely so they could be inspected to determine their seaworthiness. Other companies will be allowed to deploy ferries, and the Coast Guard may provide free rides to prevent major traffic disruptions in areas where ferries are the main mode of travel.
“We are going to make sure this never happens again,” Lopez told a news conference, adding that there have been 32 safety-related incidents on Aleson’s ferries since 2019.
It is unclear how many passenger ships will be grounded. The company had no immediate comment on the government order.
One rescued passenger, Mohamad Khan, who lost his six-month-old baby, said the ferry suddenly tilted sideways, throwing him, his wife and others into the sea in darkness. Khan and his wife were rescued, but their child drowned.
The Philippine archipelago has a troubling history of maritime accidents, which have been blamed on storms, poorly maintained vessels, overcrowding and lax enforcement of safety regulations, especially in remote provinces.
In December 1987, the ferry Donabas sank after colliding with an oil tanker in the central Philippines, killing more than 4,300 people and making it the world’s worst peacetime maritime disaster.