A Philippine Navy ship ran aground in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea) on late Wednesday, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said on Friday.
Col. Noel Detoyato, AFP public affairs chief, reported there was no Navy personnel hurt as a result of the the grounding of the BRP Gregorio del Pilar (FF-15) at the Hasa-hasa Shoal, which is located between Pagasa (Thitu) Island and the southern tip of Palawan.
The vessel carries 117 Navy personnel, of which 15 are officers.
All vessels from the AFP’s Palawan-based Western Command (WesCom) were already mobilized to assess and retrieve the stricken vessel to enable it to return to a safe harbor, Detoyato said.
Apart from other ships near the area, tugboats based in Batangas will be deployed for the retrieval operations.
“An investigation is expected in such situatios to find out possible causes of the grounding and to come up with steps to ensure that similar incidents will be prevented,” Detoyato said.
As of 11 a.m. on Friday, inter-agency efforts had started to retrieve the fast frigate, after a ship from the Philippine Coast Guard arrived at Hasa-hasa Shoal for the rescue operations.
According to Detoyato, the removal of the BRP Gregorio del Pilar may last until next week, as he assured that the ship has not been damaged.
“[But] we have very minimal damage in the hull,” he said, adding that the ship can still run once retrieved.
Detoyato explained that the grounding of the frigate was “unintentional.”