The Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) on Saturday asked the people of Romblon for a little more patience over the delay in operations to salvage the capsized MV “Princess of the Stars."
Romblon officials earlier expressed dismay after learning that salvage operations have been moved to September 24.
Marina Undersecretary Len Bautista told QTV's Balitanghali that they were having trouble with the barges that couldn't fit into the equipment of foreign firm Titan Salvage.
She said that the some equipment came from abroad while the barges came from the Philippines so some of them could not be used together and are now being fixed.
Ms. Bautista said that they were not in any haste to do anything.
"Kung mamadaliin pero masa-sacrifice din ang safety, madedehado din, baka lalong madisgrasya, hintayin na lang natin (If we hurry up the process, we might sacrifice safety, we would be at a disadvantage if something were to go wrong, let's just wait)," said Bautista.
According to the report, the salvaging process involved two phases. The first one's primary objective is to remove the chemical endosulfan while the second phase shall be concentrated on retrieving the bodies of the ship's dead passengers.
According to Task Force Princess Star, the salvaging operations were supposed to have started last July. The ill-fated vessel capsized near Sibuyan Island in Romblon in the wake of typhoon “Frank" last June.
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