Residents of Quezon province expressed alarm on Monday over a Chinese ship that ran aground off the ancestral waters of Barangay Aramaywan.

Aramaywan Bantay Dagat head Rolando Ponoy said they only recently learned that a cargo ship carrying nickel ore got stranded in the coast of Purok Lemane last Wednesday.

Ponoy said Tagbanua tribesmen worry that M/V Zhe Hai 168, which supposedly belongs to a mining firm, has damaged corals in the area.

They are also concerned that the ship has destroyed natural resources in the ancestral waters and nearby fish sanctuary which they have kept under tight watch.

The tribe and local authorities have requested the national government to inspect the stranded ship which may leak oil and nickel ore into the sea.

Village officials said they do not have boats and proper equipment to examine the ship. -- Report from Hazel Salas, ABS-CBN News