SBMA suspends Hanjin sub-contractor over fatal accident

The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has issued a cease and desist order (CDO) against a sub-contractor of Hanjin Heavy Industries Corporation (HHIC) (Philippines) following the death of a shipyard worker over the weekend.

According to Dr. Solomon Jacalne, head of the SBMA Public Health and Safety Department, the Subic agency has suspended the operation of the erring sub-contractor while it coordinates corrective measures with HHIC management.

The name of the sub-contractor has been withheld pending the release of official results of the investigation into the mishap.

Initial investigation report submitted to Jacalne indicated that the incident happened last Saturday, May 12, at around 3:30 p.m. on board a project vessel of the sub-contractor inside the HHIC shipyard at the Redondo Peninsula here.

Nine workers were reportedly assigned to do some work atop a scaffolding on the side of a vessel, but because of the intense heat of the sun, all nine workers sheltered under a canvas canopy.

However, one of the bolts in the scaffolding snapped, causing the platform to tip down.

Five of the workers were able to hold tight onto the platform and were later rescued. However, four others fell into the ground and sustained severe injuries.

The injured were identified as Ferdinand Leuterio, 38, a native of Leyte; Johnny Alegre, 39, from Quezon City; Gerry Bayuta, 34, of Tarlac; and Valian Dela Cruz, 39, of Zambales, all temporary residing in Castillejos, Zambales.

They were brought to Bay Pointe Hospital in the Subic Bay Freeport for further medical treatment.

However, at about 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, Leuterio’s condition began deteriorating. He was later pronounced dead at around 9:00 a.m. on Monday.

Jacalne said he had ordered the sub-contractor to stop operation until the company met with the SBMA Occupational Health and Safety Division and corrective measures were put in place.

“We have to look at possible negligence, on why the accident had happened,” Jacalne said. “We have to ensure that those mistakes were corrected and would not happen again.”

Jacalne said the company had informed the SBMA that it voluntarily applied corrective actions to prevent secondary accidents, and sought close coordination with the workers’ families to give necessary assistance. (RAV/MPD-SBMA)

PHOTO:

Aerial view of the shipbuilding facility of HHIC-Phils at the Redondo Peninsula in Subic Bay Freeport.

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Plane forced to land in Subic due to mechanical problem (INQ Report)

Subic Bay Freeport - A twin-engine aircraft carrying two pilots made an emergency landing at a section of the Subic Bay International Airport (SBIA) here after its nose wheel malfunctioned on Sunday morning.

According to SBIA officials, the front landing gear of aircraft RP-C1123 (Piper Seneca 23) failed to retract, prompting its occupants to seek help from the airport’s operation center at about 10 a.m.

Members of the crash rescue team of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority spray foam chemicals on a Piper
Seneca 23 twin-engine aircraft after it made an emergency landing at a section of the Subic Bay International
Airport inside the Subic Bay Freeport due to a malfunctioning landing gear on Sunday (Apr. 10, 2016).
(Photo courtesy of Kmel Reyes)

Filipino pilot, Capt. Jason Legaspi, 38, and Indonesian student pilot Akhyar Siregar Fadhli, 20, were unhurt when they landed the aircraft safely on Runway 25 at 11:20 a.m., SBIA officials said.

Legaspi said he tried to manually loosen and open the landing gear, but had failed, prompting him to alert the SBIA Control Tower, according to a report from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Law Enforcement Department.

The SBMA crash team sprayed the aircraft with fire retardant chemicals as a precautionary measure, while an emergency medical trauma team tended to the passengers.

The aircraft, SBIA officials have said, is owned by the APG International Aviation Academy, a flight school operating inside the free port.

The six-seater plane was towed away from the runaway, to allow the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines to investigate the accident. (Allan Macatuno, Inquirer Central Luzon)


http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/778999/plane-forced-to-land-in-subic-due-to-mechanical-problem

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Filipino soldier dies in Balikatan accident

A Philippine air force paratrooper who parachuted from a C130 plane in an exercise with U.S. forces died Thursday, April 7. after a wind gust blew him out to sea instead of an airport drop zone, officials said.

The Filipino paratrooper from a special air force operations unit was rescued 15 minutes after the accident at the Subic Bay free port in Zambales, but he died later in a hospital, Philippine army spokesman Capt. Celeste Frank Sayson said.

Heavy machinery and military vehicles are parked at the Subic Bay International Airport after arriving
from the United States, April 4. The equipment will be used for Balikatan 2016, an inter-operability
exercise between the Philippines and US, that will be held on April 4-15. (Jonas Reyes)

About 3,500 Filipino troops and 5,000 American military personnel are participating in the Balikatan or shoulder-to-shoulder combat exercises that started Monday, April 4. The 11-day maneuvers aim to prepare U.S. and Philippine troops to quickly respond to a range of potential crises, including in the disputed West Philippine Sea.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter will fly to the Philippines next week to witness some of the maneuvers, underscoring the importance Washington puts on the joint combat drills that have been staged 32 times by the treaty allies.

Accident prevention is part of the meticulous planning for the joint exercises by both militaries, but mishaps have happened. In 2000, a Filipino marine was ran over by an amphibious vehicle and died during a beach landing exercise in Cavite province south of Manila. (AP)

http://www.mb.com.ph/filipino-soldier-dies-in-balikatan-accident-in-subic/

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Skipper of US destroyer relieved after mishap off Subic

MANILA, Philippines - A senior United States Navy officer has been relieved from his post a week after his warship rammed into two small fishing boats while sailing out of Subic Bay.

An online report by Norfolk, Virginia-based News Channel 3 said yesterday Commander John Bradford, skipper of the USS Stethem, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, was relieved by his superior “due to loss of confidence in his ability to command.”

Capt. Chris Sweeny replaced Bradford until a permanent officer is named to command the ship, the report said.

Under Bradford’s command, the Stethem was sailing out of Subic after being towed and pushed by two tugboats of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) when it rammed two fishing boats in its path last Oct. 13.

The mishap resulted in the sinking of the boats whose crewmembers – Orlito Cocjin, 44, Julie Mendez, 43 and Pampilo Bacsal, 33, all of Barangay Baretto, Olongapo City – survived by jumping into the sea. US sailors rescued them.

The Stethem was among the vessels docked in Subic during the recent Philippines-US Amphibious Landing Exercises 2015 in Palawan and Zambales.

Over 4,000 US Marines and sailors, including Pfc. Thomas Scott Pemberton, accused in the killing of transgender Filipino Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude, participated in the joint maritime drill.

Pemberton is currently detained at Camp Aguinaldo.

SMBA authorities said the fishermen did not file a case against Stethem officials and crew after US authorities promised to shoulder the costs and expenses incurred in the accident.

The report said after being assisted by two SBMA tugboats, the Stethem left. The ship is based in Japan and is under the operational control of the US Navy’s 7th Fleet. (Jaime Laude, Philippine Star)

PHOTO:
USS Fitzgerald, a guided-missile destroyer, docks in Subic’s Alava Pier yesterday for the Phl-US CARAT exercise. (Ernie Penaredondo)

http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2014/10/26/1384526/skipper-us-destroyer-relieved-after-mishap-subic

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DOLE probes Subic shipyard tragedy

MANILA - Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said she has ordered an immediate investigation into the Keppel Subic Shipyard incident that killed 6 workers and injured several others.

Baldoz, in a press statement Monday, said she ordered a team from the DOLE Regional Office in San Fernando, Pampanga to determine the cause of the incident and recommend measures t prevent another similar tragedy from happening.

"Your investigation should be thorough and exhaustive," Baldoz told DOLE Region 3 Director Leopoldo de Jesus.

She also told de Jesus to prepare the profiles of the victims and their families and help them.

De Jesus has sent a safety engineer and a labor inspector to the site, according to the DOLE.

The department said Keppel has suspended its operations in the work site to attend to the victims and give way to a joint DOLE-Keppel investigative team.

"The company also gave assurance to the families of the victims that it will shoulder all the burial and hospital expenses of their workers, on top of their insurance benefits," DOLE said.

A Keppel management report issued within hours of the incident showed that the incident happened on the stern ramp of M/V Tombarra, which is being repaired on the drydock, according to the DOLE.

"The fabricated tower support where the ramp stern was rested toppled and the stern ramp wire rope broke off, unable to hold the ramp from falling," the report said (ABS-CBNnews.com)

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Keppel-Singapore looks into Subic shipyard mishap

The Singaporean head office of the Keppel Subic Shipyard on Sunday announced the creation of a task force to investigate Friday’s shipyard accident in which six workers were killed and six others were seriously wounded.

Mok Kim Whang, Keppel Subic Shipyard president and general manager, said that the task force composed of senior managers, will also try to find ways to enhance safety at the shipyard.

"The (police) investigation is on-going, and we continue to cooperate fully with the authorities in the Philippines,” Whang said in a statement released by its mother-company Keppel Offshore & Marine based in Singapore.

The ship yard has suspended work on a vessel pending the results of investigation.

“We are deeply saddened that one of the seven injured workers had passed away in Our Lady of Lourdes International Medical Center, Olongapo City at around 10.15pm last night,” Whang said. “This brings the total number of fatalities to six,” he said.

The casualties were employees of Keppel Subic Shipyard while two others were under the employ of the yard’s subcontractor Garcia & Rocafor General Services.

The six injured workers are KSS project employees.

Three of the injured are in stable condition while the other three are still in the hospital’s intensive care unit.

Whang said that the company will extend financial assistance to the victims’s families.

Police investigators said that the workers were repairing the MV Tombarra, a 22,650-ton container ship, when a massive steel ramp collapsed and fell on them qaround 10 a.m. Friday.

Subic Mayor Jeffrey Khonghun urged the company to provide full compensation for the workers.

Four of the workers died instantly while a fifth victim was pronounced by doctors as “dead on arrival” at the Lourdes International Medical Hospital in Olongapo City.

Malacañang has also ordered an investigation to determine if the Keppel project complied with occupational health and safety standards. (Manila Standard Today)

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Death toll in Subic shipyard accident rises to 6

SUBIC, Zambales -- Another worker who was injured Friday in an accident inside a Singaporean shipyard in Barangay Cawag Subic Zambales which instantly killed five others died Saturday in the hospital in Olongapo city.

Reports identified the latest fatality as Ronaldo Bagay who lost his leg during the accident and was rushed to a hospital in Olongapo City Friday, the death toll now total to six.

Seven other workers are still in the hospital after being injured in the same accident.

The five other victims were identified as Jaylord Reyes, Ronald Lara, Mark San Juan, Glen Miranda and Crisander Papna.

Subic Mayor Jeffrey Khonghun said the incident happened when a 42-ton steel scaffolding inside the shipyard of Keppel Shipyard Inc. gave way which fell on the workers working bellow.

The accident according to reports happened around 10:20 a.m. at the forward drydock of Keppel in Barangay Cawag in Subic town.

Reports also said that the shipyard operation is now on hold.

Keppel officials have declined to talk to the media regarding the accident. Media and even Mayor Khonghun was not allowed to enter the premises of the shipyard which was posted by several security guards. (Anthony Bayarong, SunStar Pampanga)

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Seven Subic fishers rescued, two missing after sea collision

Seven fishermen were rescued Wednesday morning while two remained missing after a Subic-based fishing vessel collided with a cargo ship off the coast of Zambales at around 3:30 p.m. last Sunday, August 7.

The fishermen were picked up by the cargo vessel M/V Izumi at around 6:00 a.m. Wednesday and then transferred to the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) vessel M/V Redondo, which brought them to the SBMA Dispensary for treatment.

The fishermen, all from barangay Calapandayan, Subic, Zambales, were found holding onto floating pieces of their vessel about 112 miles west of Subic, near the Scarborough Shoal, rescuers said.

They were identified as Benito Otero, 56; Joel Otero, 47; Ricardo Castorico, 28; Roberto Alvior, 38; Vidal Radasa, 56; Salih Alipido, 42; and Ronilo Lebios, 29.

Those missing were identified only as as Arnel, 46, and Teteng, 40.

Two of the survivors, Alipido and Lebios, were injured in the collision.

According to Benito Otero, who owns the ill-fated fishing vessel Tres Marias, they have been floating at sea for four days before being rescued.

Otero also said that heavy rains last Sunday made for poor visibility, thus they did not see the ship in time to avoid it.

“Talagang ulan po. ‘Di makita, talagang malakas ‘yung ulan. Nakita namin ‘yung barko malapit na (It was raining. We can’t see anything, it was raining hard. We only saw the ship when it was already near our boat),” Otero said.

Otero likewise claimed that they failed to avoid the ship because of problems with steering.

The survivors said that their boat split into two after the cargo ship hit it. Thereafter, the fishermen clung to pieces of the wreckage in order to keep afloat.

However, two men in their crew disappeared in the water after the accident and were never found until the boat crew were rescued on Wednesday.

Otero recalled that they have already been fishing for four days and had sufficient catch when they met the accident on Sunday.

He said that after the mishap, the cargo ship that collided with them merely sailed on.

Otero said they failed to identify the ship also because of poor visibility. (SBMA Corporate Communications)

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Divers now on retrieval mode for lost companion inside USS New York

Divers here have located the two foreign divers who drowned inside a shipwreck site in Subic Bay Freeport.

Six divers from the Boardwalk dive shop inside Subic Bay Freeport located the two divers at around 5:30pm today (Monday).

Although the drowned divers identified as America dive master Steven Brittain, 47 and Hong Kong resident Shun Chuen Tin, 30 were located thier body has yet to be recovered.

The two divers including another Chinese national identified as Fong Lung Chow dove to see USS New York, a popular dive site in Subic Bay Freeport at around 3pm Sunday.

Chow left the dive site first and said that he saw Tin stop and turned around as they were leaving USS New York, Brittian signaled to him that he would go back to go Tin.

Chow proceeded to surface, he added that the site was dark and muddy and that he lost site of the two divers.

Chow waited for the his two companion for 30 minutes and decided to dive back to look for them but failed. He reported the incident to authorities.

Before divers from Boardwalk Dive Shop went to search for the two drowned victims, 4 divers from Johann’s Dive Shop located in Barangay Barretto in Olongapo City dove but failed to located the two foreigners.

The search started Sunday afternoon a few minute Chow reported the incident to local authorities.

Johan De Sadeleir, a Belgian national, who owns Johann Dive shop was one of the divers. The two victims originally came from Sadeleir dive shop were they rented their gears before going to the dive site.

Brittain is a known dive expert which is why his fellow diver were puzzled as to what really happened with the two. (Anthony Bayarong, Subic Times)

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Big waves capsize boat in Subic; 1 dead

One fisherman died while three others survived after their motorized fishing boat capsized near Sitio Naglatore in Redondo Peninsula at the mouth of Subic Bay at the height of tropical depression Dodong.

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Seaport Manager Captain Perfecto Pascual identified the rescued fishermen as Adonis Igmao, Melchor Nakar, and Ruperto Miranda, all of Barangay Calapacuan, Subic, Zambales.

The lone fatality was identified as Felix Datoon, 50, also a resident of Calapacuan.

Reports said that at around 10:40 in the morning, Thursday (June 9), M/V “Majelyn-1” was anchored at sea at about two kilometers from Sitio Naglatore with the four fishermen on board.

However, strong winds and big waves pummelled the boat, causing the anchor ropes to detach and making the boat unstable.

All passengers then decided to abandon the boat. Using empty plastic containers as floating devices, the fishermen swam towards the shoreline of Sitio Naglatore.

However, Datoon lost his plastic container due to strong and high waves, causing him to drown. The other three fishermen were able to swim to safety.

The initial report received by the SBMA Seaport Department said that workers of First Balfour Inc. were the first to respond and provide assistance to the three fishermen and to retrieve the body of Datoon.

First Balfour is a contractor of RP Energy Inc., the company that is building a power plant at the Redondo Peninsula.

According to Miranda, they went fishing at Sabang, Morong Bataan in the afternoon of June 8, but decided to return early morning of June 9 due to bad weather.

On their way back, they encountered strong waves that prompted them to anchor their boat in the waters off Sitio Naglatore, Miranda added.

Personnel of the SBMA Seaport and Law Enforcement Departments were dispatched to bring the victims to SBMA for medical attention. However, due to strong waves, the SBMA vessel M/V Redondo could not immediately get near Redondo Peninsula's shoreline.

It was not until 5:30 PM that the SBMA team was able to pick up the three fishermen and the body of Datoon.

The survivors were brought to the James L. Gordon Memorial Hospital for further treatment while the body of Datoon was brought to the Subic Homes Memorial Service and was claimed by his family. (Henry Empeño, Corporate Communications)

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P15-M fire hits 'Gapo

OLONGAPO City – Some P15 million worth of property and grocery items were reduced to ashes when a fire hit the Pent House building and a nearby grocery store at the corner of 21st Street and Rizal Avenue in Barangay West Bajac-Bajac at dawn Saturday.

City Fire Marshall Maj. Jonas Silvano said a fireman, SFO2 Gerry Anonas, of the Olongapo City Fire Department, was wounded.

Silvano said the three-hour fire which started at 5 a.m. at the Pent House owned by Aboy Lim was caused by an LPG tank exploded. The fire quickly spread to Happy Valley Grocery store.

Firefighters from the city, SBMA, Subic and Castillejos helped put out the fire. (Mamer Bañez, Journal Online)

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