MANILA, (PNA) — The Philippine Coast Guard on Saturday assured no oil spill was found from the grounded motor tug near the shoreline of Barangay Caterman, Candon City in Ilocos Sur last Oct. 2.
Reports reaching the PCG headquarters in Manila said M/Tug Sea Quest encountered rough seas while towing dredger George Papa, causing the vessel to run aground approximately 100 meters off the shoreline.
Upon receiving information, the personnel of Coast Guard Station Salomague immediately conducted a visual search along the shoreline, at the same time alerted all sub-stations, nearby coastal town police stations, coastal barangay officials and local fisherfolk to locate the vessel and render assistance.
Around 5:30 am, Coast Guard Sub-Station Candon sighted an unidentified tugboat with a dredger at vicinity waters of Barangay Caterman and rendered necessary assistance.
Investigation revealed that around 11 pm of October 2 when said tugboat ran aground some 100 meters away from the shoreline. All crew managed to reach the shoreline at 2 am the following day.
The team conducted visual inspection at the vicinity of grounding site and nearby barangays and found out that there were no signs or indications of oil spill at the said area. CGS Salomague personnel continuously monitored the area for possible oil spill.
CGS Salomague advised the Master of the vessel to submit Marine Protest (incident report) within the prescribed period.
M/Tug Sea Quest is a Philippine registered vessel of 46.79 gross tonnage and 27.12 net tonnage skippered by Capt. Danilo Dusaran with seven Filipino crew on board. Its next port of call is Manila purposely to tow dredger George Papa.