Cargo Vessel Remains Stuck in Monad Shoal in North Cebu

Cargo vessel MV Belle Rose remains stuck at the Monad Shoal near Malapascua Island off Daanbantayan town in northern Cebu after efforts by a salvage team to extricate the vessel Saturday failed.

Cebu Provincial Disaster Risk-Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) head Baltazar Tribunalo Jr. said some of the things the Cebu Capitol and the salvaging company have agreed upon last Thursday were not applied.

Both parties earlier agreed that the ship’s salvaging company will unload 300 metric tons of its cargo before pulling out the ship out of the reef.

But only water was pumped out of the ship’s ballast, said Tribunalo.

He said he would insist to the salvage company to shed some of ship’s cargo to a standby barge before pulling the ship out.

Laywer Pedrito Faytaren Jr. of the salvaging company said their two tugboats would again pull out the ship from the reef Sunday.

The Belle Rose, a Panama registered vessel carrying 48,000 metric tons of clinker, a raw powder ingredient used in manufacturing cement, accidentally went off course at 3 a.m. on June 13 and entered a 10-meter deep portion of Monad Shoal, a reef, cutting through its bed of corals four nautical miles Southeast of Malapascua island in Daanbantayan town, northern Cebu.

Ship captain Vicar Neil de los Reyes alleged that he was trying to avoid fishermen when the vessel ran aground, causing damage to some three hectares of coral reef.

The vessel came from a port in Tsukumi, Japan and heading for San Fernando town in southern Cebu, to deliver the clinker powder to Taiheiyo Cement Philippines Inc. (PNA) RMA/EB/SSC