THE PHILIPPINE Coast Guard (PCG) has filed a criminal complaint against four of Hong Kong-flagged MV Vienna Wood’s ranking officers and its shipping company a week after colliding with Filipino fishing vessel (F/V) Liberty 5.
In a message on Monday, PCG Commodore Armando Balilo said a criminal case of reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide and damage to property were filed against the shipmaster, officers, and Nomikos Transworld Maritime, the merchant vessel’s shipping company.
The charge sheet, he said, specifically named Zhang Weiwei from Shandong, China; Shin Bin from Henan, China; Yi Lei, from Jilin, China; and Yang Xileng from Shandong as respondents.
“PCG Station Commander of Occidental Mindoro, LT Valerie Lagua, acted as the complainant. Witnesses include PCG personnel, responders, and fishermen,” Balilo said.
He said the complaint was filed at the office of Provincial Prosecutor Rowena Garcia-Villaflores in Occidental Mindoro on Sunday to determine probable cause.
In its media bulletin, the PCG said the charges were filed after taking into consideration the eyewitness accounts of fishermen and other mariners who were first-responders to the collision, admission of the collision from MV Vienna Wood’s captain, the nature and extent of damage to both vessels, and evidence gathered by PCG personnel in Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro and the PCG Southern Luzon District.
“There is a finding of criminal negligence on the part of the MV Vienna Wood in relation to the collision, sufficient to file a case against it,” the PCG said.
Earlier, Balilo said the search and retrieval operations for the 14 missing Filipino crew have been extended until Tuesday (July 7) in the waters off Tayamaan, Mamburao. (By Raymond Carl Dela Cruz)
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