MANILA ム A foreign cargo ship ran argound a tourist area in the southern Philippine province of Biliran Thursday night, the Coast Guard said Satur-day.

Lt. Paul Ryan Gonzales, Coast Guard Tacloban Station com-mander, said in a phone interview on Saturday, the ship which was owned by a Taiwanese was on its way to Japan from Malaysia.

Gonzales said the du-ty officer of the cargo vessel reported they did not notice the islet named Maripipi.

Maripipi, which has draws swimmers in the area.

A total of 270 square meters of coral reefs were damaged, the Coast Guard said.

Gonzales said MV Unicorn Lodger of Wisdom Lines has 18 Vietnamese crew.

The vessel anchored at the port of Naval in Leyte after high tide gave the impulse to leave the reef around 2:09pm last Friday during high tide, said Gonzales.

He said the ship sus-tained minor damage on the forward portion of its metal hull.

Gonzales advised the crew to go to the near-est repair facility in the area before they pro-ceed to Japan.

Gonzales said based on their findings the in-cident was an accident but the ship ownerユs must pay to rehabilitate the damaged reef.

Gonzalez said the cargo vessel can only left the port of Naval to seek repairs when they have settle pen-alties that the local gov-ernment of Maripipi may impose against them.

He said the Coast Guard and Maripipi offi-cials arrived at the fig-ure of 270 square me-ters due to drag marks by the ship on the coral reef. RA/DMS