A group of seafarers yesterday asked the Maritime Industry Authority to ground for a longer period of time five more ships of Besta Shipping Lines to avert another sea accident similar to what happened to one of it’s vessels, the M/V Baleno 9.

Baleno capsized off Verde Island in Batangas last December, killing at least a dozen people.

In a media forum, the Retired Seafarers Association Inc. said Besta should not be allowed to resume operations until it paid the grieving families of the victims just compensation.    
The group cited a Senate Blue Ribbon report that the firm’s fleet is not designed to navigate Philippine waters.

While the victims’ relatives wanted justice for their perished kin, RESAI reminded Besta not to renege on  its vow to extend financial assistance to the families.

Also, the group blasted Besta’s insensitivity in dealing with the problem.

”The owner, Pedro Ang, doesn’t want to speak with the families of the victims anymore. Often, he would just send someone who hardly knows anything to talk to them,” the group said.

It criticized Besta’s insurance company, Strong Hold Insurance, for saying that it will not pay the relatives of missing passengers and crew until after they are legally declared dead.