ZAMBOANGA CITY: Maritime authorities rescued 11 fishermen at sea off this city Wednesday evening amid bad weather conditions.
In a statement Thursday, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said its Zamboanga Station immediately deployed a search and rescue team after receiving a report around 10:05 p.m. Wednesday that a fishing boat with capsized between Tictabon Island and Barangay Mampang.
The vessel, F/B Jaya-1, came from Pagadian City and was cruising between the Tictabon-Mampang waters when it capsized due to big waves and strong winds amid a heavy downpour.
The extreme weather was caused by the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) affecting the city at the time of the incident.
The PCG-Zamboanga search and rescue team rescued four of the 11 fishermen around 10:20 p.m. Wednesday. All were in good physical condition.
Col. Salbino Piad, chief of the Regional Maritime Unit-Region 9, said two of the 11 fishermen were also rescued by his personnel who responded to the incident.
Shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday, the PCG team found the other five fishermen clinging onto the floating capsized fishing boat approximately 2.5 nautical miles from the shoreline of Barangay Mariki.
A boat of the Naval Forces Western Mindanao arrived in the Mariki waters and towed the capsized boat to the shorelin
Source: Philippines News Agency
