A passenger shipping vessel allegedly slammed a wall at the Batangas Port late evening Friday, the Philippine Coast Guard reported.

According to Coast Guard-Batangas Station Commander Lieutenant Commander Troy Cornelio, the passenger shipping line Super Cat crashed the Batangas Port at around 7 p.m. while docking.

Cornelio added that around 24 passengers were injured and immediately brought at the nearest hospital by Coast Guard rescue personnel. Operations at the port were suspended right after the incident.

“(The) incident happened habang pa-dock na yung barko sa wharf ng Batangas Port; at nagkataon pa, karamihan ng mga pasehero ay nakatayo or naka-abang na sa may port-side ng vessel nang biglang bumangga iyon sa wall ng wharf kaya may mga nasaktan,” Cornelio said.

PCG-Southern Tagalog District Commander Commodore Cecil Chen said that they will immediately conduct an investigation on the incident which may have been caused by negligence or error by the ship captain.