ILOILO CITY, Iloilo, Philippines — The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has started its formal investigation on the sinking of M/V Asia Malaysia owned by Trans-Asia Shipping Lines even as another vessel belonging to the same company catches fire in Cebu Wednesday.

Commodore Athelo Ybañez, PCG commander in Western Visayas, disclosed that the Special Board of Marine Inquiry headed by Capt. Pedro Tinampay began to probe the cause of the 2,400-ton ship that sank off the coast of Ajuy, Iloilo last Sunday morning and which strong currents have swept to the vicinity of Manapla, Negros Occidental Tuesday.

Ybañez said the probe will be conducted to ascertain the liabilities of ship owner Trans-Asia Shipping Lines Inc. and the ill-fated ship’s skipper, Capt. Romualdo Geraldizo.

Initial investigations found that the passenger ship, which was en route to Iloilo City from Cebu City, began listing to its right before 5 a.m. while it was about 2.8 nautical miles south of Ajuy’s Calabazas Island.

When the tilting could no longer be set aright to a balanced position, Geraldizo ordered that the ship be abandoned by its 178 passengers and crew on board.

Reports on the situation before the ship’s listing vary. Some reports say the ship was hit by strong waves before it listed to its right. Other reports quote some passengers as saying that they heard a loud bang before the ship started tilting to one side.

Ybañez also said that overloading was ruled out as the ship’s capacity was for over 500 people. There were only 178 people onboard.

The only thing Ybañez could only explain is how the ship sank after Geraldizo could not steer it back to a balanced position. Because of the continuous tilting, sea water penetrated the ship, causing it to sink.

Some passengers of the ill-fated ship complained that they were not informed earlier of the ship’s real status before the skipper ordered that the ship be abandoned.

Meanwhile, in Cebu, another passenger-cargo vessel owned by Trans-Asia Shipping Lines caught fire while docked at Cebu port.

Commander Rolando Punzalan, chief of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Station-Cebu said the fire incident razed down the cargo hold portion of M/V Trans-Asia 2 around 11 a.m. Wednesday while rubber items, mostly shoe accessories, were being brought down said port’s Pier 4.

Punzalan said the incident lasted some 10 minutes. The PCG will conduct an investigation on the new incident. (With a story by John Carlo M. Cahinhinan)