A total of 93 passengers and 36 crew were put into safety after a roll-on roll-off vessel ran aground approximately 100 meters off the nearest shoreline of Barangay Nasunugan in Banton, Romblon, Saturday midnight, Coast Guard authorities said.

The vessel left Lucena Port bound for San Agustin Port in Tablas, Romblon, when the incident occured.

Initial information was received from Christian Vergara, a resident of Barangay Bagacay in Romblon who said his cousin and friend were passengers onboard MV Maria Helena of Montenegro Shipping, which was in distress.

The Coast Guard Station in Romblon coordinated with its rescue teams in San Agustin, Banton, Command Outpost Corcuera, and personnel from the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office-Banton for rescue operations.

Around 2:12 am, PCG duty operation received a report from the supervisor of Montenegro that the vessel with 16 rolling cargoes, including motorcycles onboard, ran aground.

At 3:06 am, Coast Guard Station Romblon was informed that the vessel was disembarking passengers using the lifeboats.

Local passenger boats in the area and Coast Guard Banton personnel immediately assisted in disembarking all passengers, who were later transferred to a covered court at the barangay.

MV Maria Helena r was observed to be listing 10 degrees to portside due to an imbalance of cargoes and seawater inside the vessel passing through its drainage.

As per its skipper Captain Elmo Sumocol, the vessel listed due to the explosion of one tire of one of their rolling cargoes onboard, which broke the lashing.

Sumocol added that the sea condition was calm, and there were no signs of hull cracks or holes on the vessel. The quartermaster and captain of the vessel remained onboard to assess and monitor the status of the vessel.

Sumocol stated that the vessel has approximately 21,000 liters of marine diesel oil remaining onboard. PCG's Marine Environmental Protection Group in Romblon is on standby for a possible oil spill response. PCG