Coast Guard searching for ship that rammed fishing boat

SUAL, Pangasinan: The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) is now scouring the West Philippine Sea to find the ship that rammed a fishing boat from Subic, Zambales on September 30.

Three Filipino fishermen were killed during the incident.

“We have sent an investigation team to interview the fishermen who survived the incident and to get additional data,” said Alexander Corpuz, PCG Pangasinan station commander, in a telephone interview.

Eleven fishermen survived the incident. They arrived in the coastal village of Cato in Infanta town in Pangasinan at about 10 a.m. on Tuesday, October 3.

An injured fisherman was immediately given medical attention, said Richie Domingo of the Infanta municipal disaster risk reduction and management office.

The dead fishermen were identified as Dexter Laudencia, 40, the boat’s skipper and owner; and crew members Benedicto Olandria, 62; and Romeo Mejico, 38.

They were brought to their homes in Subic on Wednesday, October 4, according to Corpuz.

Southbound

On Wednesday morning, Corpuz said the PCG’s only information on the ship that rammed the fishing boat is that it was southbound and that it was a commercial vessel.

But one of the survivors described its color as blue, said Napoleon Domalanta, village chief of Cato.

Corpuz said the incident took place at about 4:30 a.m. on September 30 while the fishermen were fishing in a “payao” about 190 nautical miles (351.88 kilometers) northwest of Infanta, Pangasinan.

A payao is a floating artificial reef usually made up of small bamboo rafts. Palm leaves are hung under the rafts to attract small fish that feed on the planktons that settle on the fronds. In turn, the bigger fish are attracted by the small fish.

“It was the fourth payao that they had visited during that fishing trip,” said Corpuz.

The fishermen left Subic on September 26 aboard their fishing boat F/B Dearyn. While in the payao on September 30, they were met by bad

weather, forcing them to tie their boats in the payao.

Dark and raining

“It was dark and raining and they could not have noticed the ship,” said Domalanta.

Domalanta said that the bad weather they encountered was called “tribunada,” a phenomenon that combines riotous gale and blinding rain.

Domalanta also said that one of the fishermen had told him that the payao was within the international shipping lane.

Corpuz said that the fishermen’s location when they were rammed was only 10 nautical miles (18.52 kilometers) away from the boundary of the country’s exclusive economic zone.

He also said that the three dead fishermen had head injuries, which could mean that they had been directly hit by the ship.

The other fishermen survived because they were in the smaller boats that the big fishing boat usually carried during an expedition.

These were the same small boats that they used to sail back to shore until they reached Cato.

“They docked here because we are nearer than Subic. They have been travelling for three days. That’s why the dead were already in an advanced stage of decomposition,” said Domalanta.

Not first time

In June 2012, a fisherman from Bolinao town died while four others were missing after a ship rammed their boat while they were adrift near a payao in the West Philippine Sea.

One of the three survivors saw the ship marked with Chinese characters

on the vessel’s stern as it went northward.

The ship was never found.