Search for 33 missing fishermen on Luzon continues

LUCENA CITY, QUEZON, Philippines – Authorities said Sunday they are still searching for 33 fishermen from Quezon and Camarines Norte who went missing during stormy days after Tropical Storm Enteng (international name: Yagi) ravaged Luzon and parts of the Visayas earlier this month.

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in northern Quezon said Noreen Soronel, owner of the FBCA Zshan, reported to her station last Wednesday that she lost contact with the fishing boat and its 15-member crew on Tuesday, September 3. Soronel told the PCG that the boat had left Infanta town in Quezon for a fishing trip in the Pacific Ocean on August 18.
READ: Storm Enteng leaves fishermen stranded in Camarines Norte, 14 missing

Enteng entered the Philippine area of ​​responsibility on September 1 and exited early on September 4, causing widespread flooding in some parts of Metro Manila and Calabarzon, as well as in Northern Luzon and the Bicol regions.

During the Enteng storm, Soronel told the PCG that she advised the boat's captain to seek shelter in Barangay Calutcot of Burdeos town on Polillo Island to escape the effects of the storm. Her last contact with the captain was on September 2.

A report from the PCG-District Southern Tagalog (PCG-DST) on Saturday said local fishermen in Palanan in Isabela, a coastal town over 600 kilometers from Infanta, reported seeing the partially submerged F/Bca Zshan in their waters. However, after a thorough search of the area, none of the crew was found.

“Despite the use of a drone, no sightings of the missing persons were made,” the PCG-DST said.

Commodore Geronimo Tuvilla, Commander of the PCG-DST, assured the families of the missing fishermen that all available resources would be used to find and rescue their loved ones.

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Tuvilla urged the public to remain vigilant and to immediately report any sightings or information regarding the missing fishermen to the authorities.

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Fisherman dead

On Thursday, the Quezon Provincial Police reported that another fishing boat, RODA 1, which came from the coastal town of Perez and had four fishermen on board, was also missing.

The boat left Perez on August 28 for a fishing trip in the waters off Polillo Island in the Pacific Ocean but did not return. Bicol was also searching for 14 fishermen from Camarines Norte who went missing before Enteng was declared a tropical cyclone by the state weather bureau on September 1, said Gremil Alexis Naz, spokesman for the Bicol Civil Defense Office, on Sunday.

The death of the 15th fisherman, a 48-year-old resident of Jose Panganiban town, was confirmed after his body was found by the PCG in Vinzons town on September 3.

According to the Camarines Norte Operation Center, the fishermen were reported missing on September 2. — with reports by Rey Anthony Ostria and Ma. April Mier-Manjares