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EXCEPT for a banca that capsized, yesterday's annual fluvial procession for the Señor Sto. Niño went smoothly as dark clouds cleared up just in time for ships to sail from the Ouano wharf in Mandaue City at 7 a.m.
Coast Guard personnel picked up 40 devotees who got drenched when the motorized boat MB Kent and Kyle which they rented capsized after a firecracker blast tore a hole on the right side of the vessel.
A flotilla of 86 small vessels, guided by sea marsalls on speedboats, escorted the flower-decked yacht carrying images of the Sto. Niño, Our Lady of Guadalupe and a wooden bust of a suffering Jesus Christ, the Ecce Homo, in its short voyage down the Mactan Channel.
The icon of the Sto. Nino was placed on a platform that could rotate so the image could face devotees, who waved their hands, wept and cried out prayers from the pier as the “galleon” Trinidad departed.
At least 20,000 Mandauehanons bid farewell to the visiting religious icons after an overnight vigil at the St. Joseph’s Shrine.
Thick crowds lined a two-kilometer procession route leading to C. Ouano Street and the entire stretch of the first Mandaue-Mactan bridge facing the Ouano wharf.
Sinulog dancers led the foot procession as devotees followed the “caro” or carriage , praying the rosary and singing the gozos or special hymns dedicated to the Sto. Niño.
Firecrackers were lighted while red, yellow and white balloons were released as the two carrozas passed the streets.
At the Ouano wharf, the Sto. Niño image was first brought into the house of Ernesto Ouano before it was boarded into the waiting galleon outside.
The image was placed in a flat platform in front of the galleon and allowed to rotate in order to face the assembled crowd at the wharf.
People waved their hands while others cried out their prayers as the Galeon Trinidad moved away from the wharf.
Elsewhere, the MB Kent and Kyle boarded by the 40 devotees capsized about 50 meters away from the Mactan-Mandaue Bridge just as the Galleon Trinidad was making its final turn before docking at Pier 1, Cebu City at past 7:40 a.m.
The vessel, one of 16 unregistered boats in the fluvial procession, was eventually recovered along with the soaked devotees by the Coast Guard.
The devotees complained that they lost their cell phones along with several belongings.
The Coast Guard will investigate the boat owner, a certain Jerry Lenconet of San Vicente, Olango Island, who said he was unaware that the passengers were carrying firecrackers at the time.
Lenconet also admitted that the passengers, a group of beauticians from Cebu City, were drinking beer prior to the incident. With reports from Correspondents Carine M. Asutilla and Jhunnex Napallacan
