By BETHEENA UNITE
A local fishing boat carrying 14 fishermen, including its captain, capsized off Tayamaan, Mamburao in Occidental Mindoro after it figured in a collision with a Hong Kong-registered cargo vessel Sunday, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said.
Aerial and sea search and rescue operations have been under way since the captain of foreign vessel “MV Vienna Wood” made a call of distress Sunday to the PCG.
It was reported that local fishing vessel “Liberty 5” and “MV Vienna Wood” collided in the waters off Tayamaan due to rough seas at around 1 a.m. Sunday.
According to PCG, the local fishing vessel, which had 14 passengers, including the captain aboard, was bound for Navotas from Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi while the empty foreign bulk carrier with 20 crew members onboard came from Subic, Zambales and in transit to Australia when the collision took place.
“Naganap ‘yung incident ala una ng madaling araw. Malakas rin ‘yung alon sa vicinity waters when the incident occurred (The incident happened at 1 a.m. It happened in the middle of rough seas off the said vicinity waters),” Commodore Armand Balilo, Coast Guard spokesperson, said.
As of Monday, the foreign cargo vessel was escorted by a Coast Guard vessel to Batangas while a search and rescue mission to locate the fishermen carried on.
Coast Guard’s BN Islander and Airbus H145 light twin engine helicopter were also deployed Monday to help in the mission conducted by multi-role response vessel BRP Boracay 14.57 nautical miles west-southwest off Tayamaan.
“We also issued Notice to Mariners for all vessels in the area to be on the lookout and report any information regarding the incident,” Balilo said.