Search continues for 7 fishermen in boat collision off Palawan
SEARCH and rescue operations continued Monday for seven of 20 fishermen who were on a boat that collided with another vessel on Saturday off Palawan, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said.
In a statement on its Twitter account, the coast guard said their BRP Suluan vessel or MRRV-4406 is leading the operations alongside the PCG Aviation Force’s BN Islander Plane.
The Philippine Air Force and Philippine Navy have also sent deployed vessels to help in the search, PCG Spokesperson Armando A. Balilo said in an interview with CNN Philippines on Monday.
The seven fishermen were on board the FB JOT-18 vessel in waters off Maracanao Island in Agutaya, Palawan when it collided with the MV Happy Hiro sailing under the flag of the Marshall Islands.
The 13 other Filipinos on board the fishing boat were immediately rescued by another transiting vessel and transferred them to the MV Happy Hiro, which moved to waters off Lipata, Culasi, Antique for assistance.
The PCG’s BRP Panglao ferried the rescued fishermen to the shoreline. One of the 13 had a minor head injury while the rest obtained scratches.
All of them were already in stable condition as of Sunday, the coast guard said in its incident report.
Investigation on the collision is ongoing, the PCG said. — MSJ
