Ship with 600 passengers being towed after engines fail in Philippines

A ship with 600 passengers was being towed back to port after its engines quit, leaving the vessel adrift in waters of the southern Philippines, officials say. The vessel, Trans Asia 5, lost power about midnight Sunday local time (11 a.m. Sunday ET) about nine hours after departing Cagayan de Oro City for Cebu City, the Philippine Inquirer reported Monday. At the time the engines stalled, the ship was about 7 to 8 nautical miles east of the province of Siquijor. By Monday morning the Trans Asia 5 had drifted southward and was about 12 nautical miles from the town of Plaridel on the northern end of the island of Mindanao, said Coast Guard officer Melchor Inigo. Two tugboats sent by the shipping company are towing the vessel back to Cagayan de Oro City, said Lt. j.g. Robinson Madriaga, operations officer of the Coast Guard for the Central Visayas district. He said a Coast Guard medical team had accompanied the tugboats and that bottle water had been provided to some of the passengers.