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ISAGA |
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The
preliminary investigation of the sea accident involving
a passenger fast craft vessel and a barge awaits the
statement of the ship captain of M/V Ocean Jet 3 until
yesterday afternoon.
PCG
Bohol Station Commander William Isaga said that without
the statement of the vessel's ship captain, he could
not submit his initial findings and recommendations
to the Special Board of Marine Inquiry in Cebu City
which will conduct the investigation.
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Isaga
said that patron Emmanuel Corpus of barge "ASC Valerie"
in his sworn statement claimed that there were two lights
at the barge since one of its two generators was operating
while they were on anchorage at the inner anchorage area.
Their position, Corpus said, was cleared by the Harbor Pilot
awaiting availability of a berthing space at the Tagbilaran
City Port.
Corpus
likewise said that eight crew members who were atop the barge
saw the approaching Ocean Jet 3, and in fact, waved a flashlight
to further alert the ship captain. However, they noticed that
the vessel was still on a speed beyond the allowable 8 knots,
which is the prescribed speed as a vessel approaches a port.
For
his part, Renato Alforque, of M/T Wilbert, a tugboat, stated
in his sworn statement that his boat was no longer at the
accident site when Ocean Jet 3 hit the barge since he already
docked to the pier in order to meet the consignee of the sand
and gravel loaded at the barge from Leyte.
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"I
left the area at around 7:30 p.m., while the accident
happened 8:20 p.m. already," the tugboat operation
said as he based the time element on the radio call
he received from Corpus who was at the barge.
Commander
Isaga said the statements of both the barge and tugboat
operators contradicted with the statement of Capt. Domingo
Hoylar of Ocean Jet-3 issued through the media that
the barge had no lights, but instead the lights seen
were that of the tugboat.
Based
on the sworn statements issued, the tugboat was no longer
at the site of the accident and the lights seen by Hoylar
were that of the barge itself, Isaga said.
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The
Coast Guard commander said that once he gets the statement
of the Ocean Jet captain and the Harbor Pilot, he will submit
his findings and conclusions for investigation by the Special
Board of Marine Inquiry which he expects to convene next week
at the PCG-Cebu offices.
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