Rota mayor says death of M/V Luta crew a freak accident

A 62-year-old crew of cargo vessel M/V Luta died after he reportedly fell into the water from the boat, which was anchored at the West Marina Commercial Port on Rota Tuesday night.

Rota Mayor Efrain Atalig, in a phone interview yesterday, said although police investigation is ongoing, he believes that there was no foul play and that it was a freak accident. He said he was in the area when it happened and witnessed how Fidel Mendiola and others retrieved the victim.

Mendiola is among the owners of M/V Luta, a 150-foot long 500-ton cargo ship.

“What happened to the victim was unfortunate,” Atalig said.

Atalig said he immediately called police and an ambulance.

A witness also told Saipan Tribune yesterday that he too believes that there was no foul play involved as there were several people at the port at that time and that he even saw Mendiola and the boat’s captain jump into the water to save the victim.

The witness said he and Rota Mayor Atalig, along with several others, were eating in the warehouse at the port because they just finished unloading cargo from M/V Luta, which had just arrived from Saipan that same night.

The witness said Mendiola was outside the warehouse talking with someone on the phone and saw the victim fall from the boat.

He estimated that the warehouse is only about 60 feet away from the boat.

The witness said when Mendiola shouted that the victim fell from the vessel, they all ran outside from the warehouse.

He said the victim actually fell into one of the tires attached to the pier so they used a rope to bring him down to the water.

“He was facing up with his legs tangled on the tire. His face was in the water,” the witness said.

The witness said their retrieval was done fast, but the victim was already not moving.

Department of Public Safety acting spokesman Jason Tarkong said that on Tuesday at 11:36pm, Rota DPS Police received a call about an injured person at the West Marina Commercial Port, prompting police and Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services ambulance to respond to the area.

Tarkong said preliminary interview with witnesses at the scene revealed that the victim, a 62-year-old Filipino male, fell off from M/V Luta boat and into the water.

Members of the boat crew assisted in diving into the water and pulling the victim from the water onto shore.

Tarkong said the victim had no pulse and was not breathing and first responders attempted CPR.

The victim was transported to the Rota Health Center and pronounced dead on arrival by Dr. Gregory Kotheimer at 12:04am, Wednesday.

Tarkong said the victim’s name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

“The investigation into this case is ongoing,” Tarkong said. No other details were provided.

The witness said the height from the boat to the water was about 5 feet.

The witness said Mendiola and the captain managed to get to the victim quickly, while police and ambulance later arrived.

The witness said he learned that prior to the fall, the victim and another crew were watching TV in one of the boat’s room. He said the victim then went outside his room and later fell from the side of the boat.

The witness said the victim, a Filipino-American, was an engineer who came on Rota along with the boat from Louisiana, U.S.A., last March.

He said he knows that the victim does not drink alcoholic beverages.

He said the victim was telling other crew that his son from the Philippines came to the U.S. after he successfully petitioned him.

The witness said apparently the son, however, got into an accident at a swimming pool in the U.S. and became comatose.

The witness also disclosed that the victim and the boat’s other crew were complaining about not getting wages lately.

Last May, former Department of Public Lands Secretary John DelRosario filed a taxpayer’s lawsuit against Lt. Gov. Victor B. Hocog and Department of Finance Secretary Larissa Larson over the alleged adoption of a Rota Legislative Delegation resolution without public notice that purportedly authorized payment of $400,000 to a private company owned by relatives of Hocog.

Rota Legislative Delegation Resolution 19-03 was approved “to authorize the Department of Finance to pay for fuel, lubrication, and other costs necessary for the maiden voyage of the vessel from Louisiana to its new home port on Rota, and to provide for the personnel and operational costs of the Office of the Mayor of Rota.”

The M/V Luta was supposed to reduce the waiting time for shipments to come in since the barge is having a hard time to come in to the dock.

M/V Luta was recently used to pick up a 20-member environmental group that was stranded on Pagan for close to a week.