Gov’t takes control of foreign ship that sank off N. Samar

TACLOBAN CITY, March 22  -- The government has assumed ownership of the foreign cargo ship that drifted off the coastal waters of Pambujan in Northern Samar province last January.

The crew has abandoned the vessel Jing-Ming No. 16 and decided to return to their respective countries, said Philippine Coast Guard Eastern Visayas commander Lawrence Roque.

“The owner had not shown interest to recover the vessel, it became stateless resulting for it to become a government property,” Roque said in an interview Wednesday afternoon.

The vessel is currently docked at Cancabato Bay in this city.

Roque said the ship will be turned over to the Bureau of Customs, the agency tasked to decide what to do with the ship to recover the cost paid to the company that salvaged the ship.

“Unfortunately, the salvaging of the ship to prevent the oil spill incurred payment,” Roque said.

The vessel reportedly loaded with oil, left China on December 12 and was sailing to Chile when they encountered rough seas, according to crew members.

The vessel made a distress call on January 2 due to Tropical Depression Agaton while crossing the San Bernadino Strait that separates Samar Island and Luzon Island.

The vessel has nine crew composed of six Chinese nationals, two sailors from Hong Kong, and a Taiwanese.

The incident happened just as the same time when authorities recovered a blue drum filled with 24 kilograms of cocaine worth PHP125 million in the shoreline of Matnog, Sorsogon.

Matnog town is just more than a hundred kilometers away from Pambujan town in Northern Samar.

Investigation is still ongoing to find out if the vessel dumped illegal drugs in Philippine seas before it sank in the waters off Northern Samar and had been salvaged and towed to a port in Pambujan town. (RTA/PNA)