With two sea tragedies that ended the 2009 still fresh in their minds, passengers of another vessel were briefly thrown into panic when their boat suffered engine trouble off Bilaa Point in Surigao City last January 1.

MV Millennium, a roll-on, roll off (RORO) vessel, was sailing at the vicinity of Bilaa Point on its way to Liloan, Southern Leyte, when it suddenly stopped at 3:30 a.m. last Jan. 1 when its engine malfunctioned due to diluted fuel.

In the report released by Coast Guard District-Northern Mindanao, MV Millennium was in distress for close to three hours until its back-up engine was activated. The vessel returned to Lipata Port, its port of origin, where its 46 passengers were transferred to MV Super Shuttle.

The Coast Guard said it received a distress call at 3:30 a.m. from crew member Guillermo del Mundo.

Meanwhile, two bodies were retrieved from the sunken MV Catalyn-B at the resumption of operations Saturday, the Coast Guard said.

PCG-National Capital Region District Commander Luis Tuason Jr. confirmed that American diver and Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary (PCGA) member Captain Matt Caldwell, together with two PCG expert divers, retrieved the bodies late Saturday afternoon.

Coast Guard Spokesman Lt. Cdr. Armand Balilo said that the divers had a difficult time in performing the risky retrieval operations due to the limited time they were capable of staying beneath the sea water which is around 221 feet deep.

“It’s too risky because Capt. Caldwell and the other divers had less than 20 minutes to stay and operate in that level (221 feet) considering that they have a longer time in ascending,” Balilo said.

Balilo said in Friday’s first retrieval attempt, giant waves prevented the team from getting near the vessel which sank off Limbones Island in Cavite.