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The captain of the doomed SuperFerry 9 said strong winds may have caused the sinking of the ship off the Zamboanga Peninsula on Sept. 6, a claim rejected by the Philippine Coast Guard at the start of the investigation into the sea mishap yesterday.
Asked by the panel if he had any idea why SuperFerry 9 capsized, Capt. Joel Yap said: "I don't know." Yap said there was no explosion prior to the listing of the ship and its sinking.
Yap's assistant, chief mate Francis Garcia, said the weather when they left General Santos City on Sept. 5 was unusual.
In his testimony before the Board of Marine Inquiry (BMI), Capt. Yap said the vessel started to roll at around 11 p.m. on Sept. 5, due to strong winds.
"The wind from the portside was getting stronger," said the skipper of the 7,000-ton vessel owned by Aboitiz Transport System Corp. He said the wind measured 10 knots, about 18.5 kph.
He ordered his crew to transfer some water in the heeling tanks to stabilize the ship, but it continued to pitch.
By 2 a.m. of Sept. 6, the vessel listed by two degrees. Aside from transferring the waters in the heeling tanks to balance the vessel, Yap said he also tried to slow down the ship but this did not stop it from tilting even further.
Half an hour later, SuperFerry 9 suddenly leaned 35 degrees to its right side and lost power, he said. Yap said he directed the crew to assist passengers into their life vests. By 3:10 a.m., Yap said he ordered everyone to abandon ship.
SuperFerry 9, which was carrying about 1,000 people, sank off the coast of Zamboanga del Norte. Ten people died from the sea tragedy, while the rest of the passengers and crew were rescued by nearby ships.
