Philippine shipwreck kills man; rescue boat also rescued

Thursday, December 18, 2008

The Coast Guard reported yesterday that a cargo ship laden with cement sank overnight in the Philippines, killing the vessel's chief engineer. A passing ship rescued the 19 others, while a coast guard rescue boat itself required rescue in strong waves in the region after getting into difficulties before losing contact.

MV Maria Lourdes, a 639-ton vessel, had been transporting 22,000 bags of cement from Iligan City in Lanao del Norte and was headed towards a town in Occidental Mindoro when the starboard main engine failed. While running on only the port main engine, strong waves battered the ship until shortly after 7:00 p.m. Tuesday night, when she went down at Antique. Chief engineer Alex Tambasin was drowned.

The Coast Guard received word on the emergency at 7:03 p.m. from Candano Shipping Lines. Vessel 3504 was dispatched to aid the stricken ship, but the boat was also troubled by strong waves and eventually contact was lost. A passing ship rescued the survivors from the Maria Lourdes instead.

Vessel 3504's crew were located on Sibay Island by the Philippine Air Force. The seven-man crew had abandoned the boat to rough seas and sought refuge on the island. They were rescued by helicopter on Wednesday morning.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!

Sources

"Philippine rescue ship in distress and officials say that all contact lost" — The Canadian Press, December 17, 2008
Rene Acosta. "Another cargo vessel sinks; 1 drowns" — Business Mirror, December 18, 2008
"Philippine cargo ship sinks, killing 1" — Associated Press, December 17, 2008

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.