BY BETHEENA UNITE
All 45 crewmen were rescued when a passenger ship caught fire off Binongkalan Point in Cebu due to electrical failure Thursday night, the Philippine Coast Guard said.
MV Filipinas Dinagat, a Philippine-registered roll-in, roll-out vessel owned by Cokaliong Shipping Lines, caught fire at 10:45 p.m. about 5.5 nautical miles east of Binongkalan. It left Pier 1, Cebu City at around 7 p.m. Thursday bound for Palompon, Leyte.
“It remained on fire as of Friday afternoon but was already under control while being towed to Sogod, Cebu,” Commodore Armand Balilo, Coast Guard spokesman, said.
It was disclosed that when the rescue team arrived at the incident site “the ship was already totally engulfed in fire.”
After three hours of rescue and firefighting mission, all crewmen were successfully rescued and were transported to Danao Port in Cebu.
According to ship captain Joel Villanueva, the fire was due to electrical failure, but Balilo said they are still verifying the real cause.
The shipowner reported that all ship crew aboard the MV Filipinas Dinagat were safe and all accounted for.
There is also no report of oil spill due to the fire, Balilo said. (Betheena Unite)
