Thirty-one persons were killed in two sea mishaps involving three passenger ships on the Iloilo Strait, the body of water that separates Guimaras from Iloilo City and neighboring coastal towns, last Aug. 3.
The inter-agency incident command center yesterday reported all were accounted for when the body of the last missing person was retrieved Tuesday afternoon.
Sixty-five persons survived the Iloilo-Guimaras sea tragedy – 52 passengers and 13 crew members from passenger boats M/B Chi-Chi, M/B Keziah 2, and M/B Jenny Vince.
Donna Magno, Iloilo City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office chief and official incident spokesperson, counted the sea mishap as two separate incidents involving three boats.
The most fatal maritime incidents on the Iloilo Strait has brought out the lapses of the Philippine Coast Guard.
PCG is under fire for allowing sea travel to resume that resulted in the third boat to capsize and raise the number of fatalities.
Local officials and residents were stunned to learn that the PCG gave a go signal for passenger boats to sail amid an ongoing search and rescue operation for M/B Chi-Chi and M/B Keziah 2.
“But the weather cleared up. That’s why the trips resumed,” explained Commodore Victor dela Vega, PCG district commander of Western Visayas. (Tara Yap)
