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Iloilo City ? Divers were patching up a hole in the hull of a cargo vessel carrying copra which listed off the coast of Guimaras Island early yesterday, a Philippine Coast Guard official said.
Coast Guard Iloilo station commander Capt. Eduardo Fabricante said all 22 crew members of the MV Windstar, were unharmed but declined to abandon ship.
Fabricante, who led the Coast Guard unit on rescue vessel DF 311, said the cargo ship's crew citing no imminent danger, donned life jackets and were, as of presstime, still pumping out excess water from their ship.
The Iligan-bound ship carrying 887 metric tons of copra and owned by the Cebu-based Matsya Shipping Corp. left the port of Iloilo 8 p.m. Wednesday but reported to the Coast Guard at 12:14 a.m. Thursday that it was listing on its port (left) side by 14 degrees.
As of 12:30 p.m. yesterday, the ship was still taking in water, Fabricante said.
The 390-gross tonnage ship anchored 1.3 nautical miles southwest off Naburot Island in Nueva Valencia town in Guimaras while the crew waited for divers to check on what had caused the listing.
It was not known, however, what caused the hole but it was suspected that the ship's hull might have grazed the seafloor. /INQUIRER
