Philippine Coast Guard. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has since sought the assistance of the commercial ship’s next stop as well its country where it is registered after its fatal collision with a Filipino fishing boat, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) commander Admiral Artemio Abu said on Friday.
On Monday, three crew members of FFB Dearyn were killed while one sustained minor injuries following the collision of their boat with Pacific Anna, a crude oil tanker registered under the Marshall Islands, some 85 nautical miles (NM) northwest of Scarborough Shoal also locally known as Bajo de Masinloc and Panatag Shoal or 180 NM from Agno, Pangasinan.
READ: Marshall Islands-listed oil tanker eyed in Scarborough Shoal collision – PCG
Abu said the director of the National Port State Control Service contacted officials in Singapore to seek assistance for its investigation as the PCG identifies the city-state as Pacific Anna’s next port of call.
Also, Abu said that he himself wrote to Marshall Islands’ Minister of Transportation, Communications, and Information Technology to inform them of the incident.
“The commandant, being the head of Port State Control of our country, it is our duty to call the attention of the government where the vessel is registered,” Abu said, partly in Filipino, in a press conference in PCG headquarters in Manila.
READ: Fisher says collision of their boat with commercial ship an accident
Abu also ordered PCG’s Maritime Safety Services Command to fast track its maritime casualty investigation on the incident.
“Our instruction is to expedite the conduct of maritime casualty investigation, we need to come up with a report,” he said.
READ: PCG chief: Collision off Scarborough nothing to do with WPS issues
This report will be submitted to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) “for appropriate diplomatic action,” according to Abu.
For its part, the DFA said it will wait for the result of the ongoing investigation.