6 Zambales fishers adrift for 25 days rescued

SUBIC, Zambales — Six Filipino fishermen, who had been adrift in China Sea without food and water for almost a month, returned home to this town yesterday after being rescued by a Taiwanese fishing vessel.

In another incident, the Coast Guard rescued 18 crewmen of the motor barge LCT Golden Asia, which capsized off Boracay Island in Aklan last Sunday.

In Bataan, Coast Guard personnel were still searching for six crewmen of a motor tanker which caught fire off La Monja Island.

LCdmr. Felipe Macababbad, station commander of the Coast Guard here, told The STAR that the fishermen had been adrift in the open seas for 25 days when they drifted close to the Taiwanese boat F/B Teresita 3.

Macababbad identified the Filipino fishermen as Sullary Campana, captain of F/B Carmen 3, and his crewmen Sison Campana, Leonardo Cabrera, Junjun Bais, Jhabar Talatagon and Boyak Mahilum, all residents of Barangay Calapandayan here.

The fishermen reportedly left Subic town on Nov. 28 for a fishing trip, but they did not reach their destination when their boat suffered engine trouble near Corregidor Island.

According to Campana, their trouble started when the boat started leaking and the pump stopped functioning. Then the engine conked out after big waves battered the boat.

The fishermen’s ordeal came to an end when they were sighted by F/B Teresita 3 owned by the Taiwanese company Lai-Lai Deep Sea Fishing Corp.

Apart from their safe homecoming, the fishermen also got good news: Lai-Lai offered them jobs in its fishing operations.

Meanwhile, a joint Coast Guard-Navy team ended yesterday their search for seven Ilocos Sur fishermen who went missing in the South China Sea last Monday.

The eighth fisherman was found alive off Tagudin town. — With Nestor Etolle, Jun Elias and Edu Punay