A sister ship of the ill-fated ferry, the Baleno 8, is shown near the Batangas City port Sunday. (Photo by KJ ROSALES)

Less than 72 hours after the sinking of a passenger boat off Limbones Island in Cavite, another sea tragedy occurred in the Southern Tagalog region when a roll on-roll off (RORO) passenger vessel capsized off Verde Island in Batangas late Saturday evening, authorities said.

Six persons have been confirmed killed in the Batangas sinking, the Agence France-Presse reported, while 22 remained missing. At least 63 passengers and crew members have been rescued.

According to the Philippine Coast Guard, around 11:40 p.m. of Saturday, an emergency call came from a certain Rachel Arshega reporting that the RORO vessel MV Baleno-9 was in distress some 1.6 nautical miles southeast of Barangay San Agapito in Verde Island.

The passenger ferry was bound for the Batangas City port and left the Calapan port in Oriental Mindoro at 9 p.m.

Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo said the four fatalities were found along the vicinity of Calapan by a Coast Guard vessel and along the waters off Batangas City by a motor banca.

“As for the latest accounts, confirmed sa akin ni Deputy District Commander Capt. Lino Payton that there were four casualties found in Calapan and Batangas City area. Dun sa report, tatlo dun ay mga bata,” Tamayo said.

According to Mr. Steve Ang, general manager of Besta Shipping Lines that owns the ill-fated ship, 70 passengers and 18 crew members were on board when the RORO vessel sank.

Commodore Cecil Chen, the Coast Guard district commander in Southern Tagalog, said 62 passengers were already rescued by search and rescue teams led by the Coast Guard and other private shipping lines near the area where the Baleno 9 sank.

“As of the latest, 62 passengers were already rescued; 36 of those were rescued by its sister ship MV Baleno-3 while the MV Baleno-5 recovered one passenger. Then yung MV Reina delos Angeles naka-rescue din ng 19 including yung anim na crew members tapos yung Coast Guard vessel SARV-3504 naka-recover din ng anim including one crew,” Chen said.

Some of the survivors told the Coast Guard that the vessel was sailing fast when it encountered huge strong waves until seawater entered the ferry and caused it to sink.

“Sabi nung mga nakaligtas, mabilis yung takbo ng RORO then malakas yung alon then pinasok na yung vessel nila,” an officer of the Coast Guard Action Center said.

Meanwhile, Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Medonza ordered the Maritime Industry Authority or Marina to temporarily suspend the operations of the remaining vessels of Besta Shipping Lines pending an investigation of the incident.

Mendoza also instructed Marina to conduct a safety audit of all merchant marine shipping lines, including the crew members and ship owners and operators following the latest sinking.

Last Thursday, the MV Catalyn B, a passenger boat, sank off Limbones Island in Cavite after it collided with a bigger fishing vessel, the FB Anatalia. Three persons were confirmed killed in the incident, while scores remained missing.

Coast Guard spokesperson Lt Cdr. Armand Balilo said they were looking into the possibility that the Baleno 9’s bow ramp, also known as the main cargo door, loosened while sailing which caused seawater to the enter the vessel.

“We were looking at the possibility that nag-malfunction yung bow ramp kaya pinasok ng tubig yung (MV) Baleno,” Balilo said.

Other reports said four bodies have been recovered, including that of an eight-month-old infant, two young females and one male believed to be 30 to 40 years old.

Batangas Coast Guard Station Commander Major Troy Cornelio said in a phone interview that a ship owned by Montenegro Shipping, which also operates out of the Batangas City port, saw the Baleno 9 go out of control after being buffeted by strong waves.

Other reports said the sinking was caused by poor lashing of ten-wheeler trucks that moved during the voyage and caused the ship to tilt to its side and capsize.

Vice Admiral Ferdinand Golez, the Navy Flag Officer-in-Command, ordered the immediate dispatch of disaster response and rescue teams from its Fleet-Marine Ready Force to conduct search and rescue operations.

Navy spokesman Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo said the BRP Iloilo with its medical team left Cavite at around 4:13 a.m. for Verde Island, while Navy Islander with tail number PNI 312 took off for an aerial search at around 7 a.m.

Arevalo said another aircraft, PNH 412, is on-call. A smaller and more agile Navy vessel, the PG 394, was directed to depart Subic as soon as possible to proceed to the vicinity of Verde Island.

Meanwhile, the Philippine National Red Cross said relatives of the passengers of the sunken M/V Baleno 9 may call the PNRC to know whether their loved ones are among the 63 known survivors in the sinking as the search continues for 25 more passengers.

Sen. Richard Gordon, chairman of the PNRC, was first on the scene at the Batangas City port just after midnight Sunday to direct the PNRC's search and rescue operations.

The PNRC's search and rescue operations had been established shortly after Gordon arrived at the port at 2 a.m., or just three hours after M/V Baleno 9 sank.

Gordon said the PNRC has established a tracing system that has listed the names of at least 63 survivors.

For her part, Sen. Loren Kegarda said the latest maritime tragedy could have been prevented had government authorities been more careful in ensuring the seaworthiness of inter-island vessels.

“The Christmas Eve collision of a passenger ferry and a fishing boat at Manila Bay underscores once more the shortcomings of the concerned government agencies in the proper monitoring of maritime vessels,” Legarda said.

The earlier collision between the wooden-hulled passenger ferry M/V Catalyn B and the steel-hulled fishing vessel F/V Anatalia off the coast of Cavite left three people dead and 24 others missing.

Some 46 others survived that sea tragedy. (With reports from Ferdinand Castro, David Cagahastian, and Rolly T. Carandang)