Three hurt in tanker blast in Batangas

By Ronron
January 22, 2008

Three persons were hurt in an explosion Tuesday morning at a tanker docked in Batangas province, police said.

SPO2 Radam Ramos, officer-on-case, said the incident happened at around 10:15 am aboard M/T Shogun that was docked at the Batangas Bay Terminal Inc. in Barangay San Miguel, Bauan town.

Ramos, who is from the Bauan Municipal Police, said the explosion happened after the vessel’s engine was switched on upon the connection of a newly-installed air compressor.

“According to the victims, the ship captain must have bought the wrong, incompatible air compressor that’s why it exploded,” he said.

The victims of the blast were ship employees identified as Ivan Paul Serrano, Ronillo Cabati, and Roseler Triño, who were attending then at the engine.

Quoting the three, Ramos said the explosion came from the valve of the engine that was connected to the air compressor.

Two of the victims sustained second-degree burns due to the heat that came from the engine valve, while the other one only sustained minor injuries like bruises. They were brought to the Bauan Doctors General Hospital for treatment.

Ramos said there was no other damage sustained aboard the ship, which was loaded at the time with one million liters of ethyl alcohol to be used by San Miguel Corporation (SMC) in making gin.

The vessel, he said, is owned by Chinese national Antonio Loo, and is just hired by SMC. It allegedly got the ethyl alcohol from Ormoc City.

Ramos said the victims are not yet decided whether or not they will file charges against their employer for the accident that happened.

Last Friday, a fire happened at a shipyard in Zambales province that killed two persons and hurt three others. The incident was allegedly triggered by sparks that ignited oil lubricants./DMS