Missing Infanta fishermen rescued
PCG received the report about the missing fishermen last Tuesday from Edgar Bejar’s wife after the group did not return last Sunday since sailing last 9 November
The Philippine Coast Guard reported that the four missing fishermen from Infanta town, Pangasinan have been rescued in Candelaria town, Zambales on Thursday, seven days after they went fishing in the West Philippine Sea.
PCG Pangasinan station head Commander Alexander Corpuz disclosed that the local government of Candelaria facilitated the return of the fishermen to Infanta.
“They are on their way to Infanta, assisted by Mayor Byron Jones Edquilang,” said Corpuz, adding that authorities have yet to hear from the fishermen details of their ordeal.
The fishermen have been identified as Edgar Bejar, Jake Bejar, Melchor Molato and Arnel Awanan. They were onboard the motorbanca identified as “Pepito 3.”
To recall, personnel from the Philippine Air Force on Wednesday launched an aerial inspection within the area of the last known location of the fishermen based on the last monitored global positioning system of their motorized boat.
Corpuz said that there was no sighting of the fishermen in the area, thus they have coordinated with the PCG’s national headquarters for the dispatch of search and rescue vessels and an aerial asset to conduct similar search and rescue.
He added that the area where the fishermen were last monitored based on GPS is at around 18 nautical miles or about 150 kilometers from the shoreline.
PCG received the report about the missing fishermen last Tuesday from Edgar Bejar’s wife after the group did not return last Sunday since sailing last 9 November.
The fishermen were supposed to go to their Payao, a fish aggregating device placed some 18 nautical miles from shoreline, to gather fish.
Meanwhile, the PCG said it also responded to a grounding incident involving barge, TML Blue Sky Jay, towed by tugboat MTUG TML the CEO in the seawaters of Bais Sand Bar, Barangay Okiot, Bais City, Negros Oriental at around 11:15 a.m. on 15 November 2023.
The vessels were en route to Campuyo, Manjuyod, Negros Oriental from Semirara, Antique when they encountered rough sea conditions. The distressed barge was also loaded with 1,600 metric tons of industrial coal when the maritime incident occurred.
MTUG TML the CEO had difficulty in tendering the towing line, causing the towing rope to entangle the propeller and the tugboat to be unable to maneuver the barge.
The PCG immediately assisted them and assessed the barge’s condition.