Philippine authorities search for 12 missing Chinese fishermen

By Ronron
November 28, 2007

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has extended its search for missing fishermen and Air Force pilots that figured in different mishaps in the remote waters of Palawan in western Philippines after receiving Wednesday morning a report that 12 Chinese fishermen are also unaccounted for.

PCG spokesman Lt. Senior Grade Armand Balilo said the report was conveyed to the PCG Action Center by the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Manila.

Quoting Consul General Guo Shaochun’s report, Balilo said the missing Chinese fishermen made a last contact to the China Maritime Rescue Center wherein they reported that the two fishing boats they were in are being battered by big waves due to strong wind.

But Balilo was not immediately aware about the date for said last contact, where the vessel was particularly located at that time, and where the vessel came from.

It is suspected that the 12 fishermen got lost in the vicinity of Pag-asa Island, Balilo said.

“The fishing boats were presumed to have sunk because of the bad weather,” he said. It can be recalled that Palawan was the immediate target area of then tropical depression “Lando” (international name: Hagibis) after re-entering the Philippines last Monday morning.

After receiving the report, Balilo said it was immediately conveyed to PCG Palawan District Commander Captain Danilo Corpuz.

Corpuz then instructed Captain Jorge Ursabla, the commanding officer of PCG Search and Rescue (SAR) vessel BRP Pampanga, to include the 12 in their search operations off Pag-asa Island for the close to 30 Filipino fishermen, the Vietnamese fishermen, and the two Philippine Air Force pilots who are believed to have gone missing in said area.

The BRP Pampanga has departed Puerto Princesa City at around 10 am Wednesday to proceed to the SAR operations site, and it will be followed this (Thursday) morning by the PCG Islander plane, which is scheduled to leave at 9am./DMS