Death toll from capsized Chinese vessel rises to 7
CITY OF CALAPAN—Another body from the capsized Chinese vessel MV Hong Hai 16 was recovered from the sunken part of the ship on Black Saturday, putting the confirmed death toll to seven with four crew members still missing.
The body, still not identified, was retrieved at 3:56 p.m. during an underwater operation at the site in the waters off Rizal town of Occidental Mindoro, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) District-Southern Tagalog said in a statement on Easter Sunday.
The PCG also reported that there were still no traces of an oil spill in the vicinity of Barangay Malawaan, where the vessel remained half-submerged.
“The assessment covered a 1-kilometer coastal stretch and spanned up to 8 km from the incident site,” said a separate statement on Sunday by the PCG, which was joined by personnel from the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office in San Jose, Occidental Mindoro, during the coastal assessment.
The carrier, which was loaded with dredged sand and was carrying around 2,000 liters of lube oil and 30,000 liters of automotive diesel oil, capsized on Tuesday, some 100 meters off the coast of Barangay Malawaan.
The vessel had 25 crew members (13 Filipinos and 12 Chinese) on board and was engaged in dredging Lumintao River in Barangay Malawaan, Rizal town, at the time of the incident.
The PCG said 14 of the crew members (six Filipinos and eight Chinese) had been rescued.
The PCG has still to release the identities of the fatalities. It said divers engaged in underwater operations recovered personal items from the vessel’s bridge area and second-floor cabin, as the search continued for the still missing crew members.
Despite challenging underwater conditions, the PCG said its specialized teams remained committed to the mission.
In observance of Holy Week, the PCG Chaplain Service held a Black Saturday Mass to offer prayers for the affected families and the continued safety of all responders involved in the operations.
Some of the families of those who perished were reported to have arrived in Occidental Mindoro on Saturday.
Environmental concerns
The Caritas Occidental Mindoro, the social action arm of the Catholic Church, in a statement on Saturday, said that even as it mourned the loss of lives of the vessel’s crew members, the large quantity of diesel and lube oil on the ill-fated ship raised “environmental concerns in an already vulnerable marine ecosystem.”
It also called for a thorough and transparent investigation into this incident, saying, “There are pressing questions about the safety protocols and regulatory oversight related to the dredging operations in our province.”
It added: “While the project was reportedly cleared by authorities, concerns have been raised regarding the environmental and legal aspects of the activity.”
In a separate statement, the environmental group Protect the Verde Island Passage, or VIP, was also concerned about a maritime mishap happening in the waters of Occidental Mindoro, which is home to Apo Reef, the second largest contiguous coral reef system in the world, and is also near the VIP, which is the center for global shorefish biodiversity.
“As a country celebrated for its rich marine biodiversity, we cannot afford further ecological destruction. Oil spills not only wreak havoc on marine life, but also devastate the livelihoods of coastal communities who rely on our seas for their livelihood and sustenance,” the group said.
It noted that the environmental devastation caused by the sinking of MT Princess Empress, which released 900,000 liters of industrial oil within the VIP in Oriental Mindoro in 2023, should have “served as a clear signal for urgent action to safeguard our waters” but appeared to be “lessons [that] remained unlearned.”
Sen. Cynthia Villar, on Sunday also called for stricter regulation, serious vigilance and real accountability in order to prevent maritime mishaps similar to what happened to MV Hong Hai 16.
“It’s worrying that this happened even without bad weather. The condition of the ship, safety of operations and the quality of monitoring of dredging activities in our oceans must be thoroughly investigated,” added Villar.
Flood prevention work
Occidental Mindoro Gov. Eduardo Gadiano earlier clarified that the dredging at the mouth of Lumintao River was intended to prevent flooding during the rainy season and had permits from the Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Environmental Management Bureau, and local governments.
In view of the incident, the BlueMax Tradelink, Inc., the company dredging the river, would receive an order on Monday to stop its operation while an investigation was ongoing, said Gadiano.
The waters close to where the vessel had capsized would also be off limits to fishers and swimmers while the search and rescue operation was still underway, authorities said. —WITH A REPORT FROM TINA G. SANTOS
