Search continues for missing fishermen

MANILA, Philippines — Search and rescue operations continued yesterday, but authorities said there was no sign of the seven fishermen reported missing after their boat collided with a foreign cargo vessel in the waters off Palawan last Saturday.

Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Armand Balilo and PCG-Palawan district commander Commodore Rommel Supangan said there was no report on any sighting of the missing fishermen.

Balilo said the PCG’s BRP Cape Bojeador and BRP Suluan were dispatched to help in search and rescue operations aside from rescue teams from the sub-station in Cuyo and Agutaya in Palawan as well as the PCG’s Islander Plane 251.

“We have reached 500 square nautical miles from the point where the fishing boat FB JOT-18 submerged. We identified the search area where the fishermen might have been carried by the prevailing wind and the current, based on our set and drift (calculation), and we thoroughly searched the area. The current is moving east-southeast,” Supangan said.

The PCG had earlier issued a notice to mariners, alerting transiting vessels to be on the lookout for the missing fishermen.

Based on information received by the PCG, the FB JOT-22 was experiencing engine trouble when it collided with the Marshall Island-registered cargo vessel M/V Happy Hiro at around 5:40 p.m. in the vicinity of Maracanao Island in Agutaya.

Of the 20 fishermen onboard, 13 were rescued by the fishing boat FB BAL-5.