The Chinese ship the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) rescued in Guiuan, Eastern Samar could be a tanker vessel, PCG spokesperson on the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela said.

In an interview with dzBB Sunday, Tarriela said the Chinese vessel matched the description of a tanker vessel.“We have yet to finalize the report but the way we see it, this is a tanker vessel. Tanker vessels carry fuel. This can be gasoline or diesel. The structure of this ship has many pipes that are connected to the lines of the hose so that the fuel can be discharged. So the structure of this ship matches a tanker,” Tarriela said.

“Now, I said that we have yet to ascertain the role of this ship because as of this time, we could not obtain the documents that identify which category this ship belongs to and for what reason it reached Eastern Samar,” he added.

Tarriela said the seven Chinese nationals on board the vessel who were sailing along Bashi Channel before it was stranded at Eastern Samar, based on what the interpreter told them.

“They told us that they were traveling from Bashi Channel. But again, we don’t know if they are telling the truth. We need to get information on their identification and how they went to Eastern Samar,” he said over dzBB.

The PCG has yet to verify if the Chinese vessel has been stranded for two or three days based on the testimonies of the crew.

Tarriela said they are coordinating with other government agencies and are likely to release the final report on the investigation this weekend.

“This weekend, we will really have the final report on this vessel. Of course, our report will be in coordination with the Bureau of Customs (BOC), the Bureau of Immigration (BI), and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA),” Tarriela said.

According to Tarriela, they track the route of the Chinese vessel by checking the voyage data recorder or the AIS (automatic identification system) data which could be acquired via satellite.

He said they are not removing the possibility that the incident could be linked to terrorism as well as human and drug smuggling.

“Again, I am not saying that they are doing these, but we are not discounting the possibilities. We are looking at all the angles. That’s why we can’t tell the public yet what reason the ship was in Eastern Samar,” Tarriela said. Jaspearl Tan/DMS