PCG: Steps taken to reach owner of foreign vessel in Scarborough Shoal ramming incident

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Thursday said steps have been undertaken to reach the owner of the foreign vessel that rammed a Filipino fishing boat near Scarborough Shoal, killing three fishermen.

PCG spokesperson for the West Philippines Sea (WPS) Commodore Jay Tarriela said they made the coordination through the port state control of Singapore where the foreign vessel was heading.

“As the PCG is the port state control authority ng Pilipinas, we have already reached out under port state control ng ibang bansa particularly sa Singapore because doon nga lalagak itong barkong ito,” he said in an interview on GMA News’ Unang Balita when asked if local authorities have already reached out to the foreign vessel's owner.

(As the PCG is the port state control authority of the Philippines, we have already reached out to the port state control of other country, particularly Singapore, because it is where the vessel was supposed to dock.)

“So ngayong hapon dadating ito doon. We're expecting na with the coordination of the PCG they will also be boarded by port state control officers investigating sa nangyari na ito,” he added.

(The vessel will arrive this afternoon there. We're expecting that with the coordination of the PCG, port state control officers will board the ship to investigate what happened.)

In an ambush interview, Coast Guard Admiral Artemio Abu said he personally wrote a letter to Marshal Island authorities to inform them of the incident.

“Sinulatan na rin natin. Ako mismo ang sumulat don sa Marshal Island para sabihin kung ano ang nangyari,” Abu told reporters.

(I personally wrote Marshal Island to inform them of what had happened.)

“We are not specifically concluding or finding it out na siya mismo yun. It has to go through a very stringent, a very careful investigation and we are doing that,” he added.

In the same interview, Abu said they also invited the survivors of the incident to come to Manila for the investigators to get first-hand information regarding the incident.

Three Filipino fishermen were killed when their fishing boat was rammed by Pacific Anna, a crude oil tanker registered under the flag of the Marshall Islands, while transiting the waters off Scarborough Shoal.

The PCG said one crew member of FFB Dearyn shared that the incident happened before dawn on Monday, October 2.

The Filipino fishing boat was moored 85 nautical miles northwest of Scarborough Shoal, locally known as Bajo de Masinloc, when it was rammed by the foreign vessel.

The boat submerged, resulting in the death of its 47-year-old captain and two crew members aged 38 and 62, the PCG said. All the fatalities are residents of Zambales province. —Joviland Rita and Hana Bordey/KBK, GMA Integrated News