The Maritime Industry Authority has suspended the passenger ship safety certificate of Trans-Asia Shipping Philippine Lines Inc., after the vessel that they are operating, MV Asia Philippines, was involved in a fire incident, Friday afternoon in Batangas City.
In an order signed by Marina regional director, Engineer Emmanuel Carpio, Trans-Asia’s safety certificate was suspended, in lieu of Marina’s Memorandum Circular 152 and Administrative Order 11-19.
“Safety Certificate shall be suspended when the ship has been involved in maritime casualties and incidents, such as but not limited to, fire, engine derangement, grounding, collision, allision, and hitting hard objects, that may put into question the integrity of the hull and its integral parts and other affected machinery,” the order stated.
For its part, the Philippine Coast Guard said a thorough investigation is now underway to know the reason behind the incident.
The latest report from the PCG said all 85 passengers of the ill-fated vessel, including its crew, are all accounted for with no casualty and injuring a 44-year-old female passenger.
“Search and rescue operation has already ended. Our focus now will be the investigation,” the PCG said, adding that no oil spill happened.
Last May and June, two other vessels caught fire while in the waters of Real, Quezon and in the Visayas.