Search widens for 15 aboard sunken boat in Davao Gulf
DAVAO CITY—Authorities had widened their search for 15 people who continue to be missing after their motorized banca sank in the Davao Gulf off Davao Occidental province this week.
The search area now includes the waters of Indonesia, according to Lt. Commander Jerome Bryan Mauring of the Naval Forces Eastern Mindanao.
Mauring said he was among those who met with officials of the Indonesian consulate here on Tuesday to inform them that Philippine Air Force planes would enter their airspace for reconnaissance flights in aid of the search and rescue operation.
He said that they also informed the Indonesian authorities about their vessels entering their territorial waters for the operation to locate the 15 people, most of them recreational fishers and the boat crew.
When asked about the chances of survival of these people in the high seas, several military officers told the Inquirer hat people who are deprived of food and water can survive up to five days.
Mauring said that factoring in the current and the wind conditions, the 15 people could now be floating about toward the country’s border with Indonesia.
Rescued
On Tuesday, a crew member, Christopher Bulig, was rescued 21 kilometers southeast off Balut Island in Davao Occidental.
There were at least two accounts that have emerged on the fate of the boat, marked “Amejara,” after it was battered by strong winds and big waves as its 12 passengers and four crew members were on their way to a game fishing site.
One account, shared among local divers that include some relatives of the passengers, said the boat sunk around 4 a.m. on Jan. 18.
But the latest official account said that the boat sunk between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. on Monday, the time when a distress call was received by authorities.
That distress call, after being verified, led to their deployment of boats for a search and rescue operation.
The message came from Earlan Uyking, telling his wife that he and his companions are “in the middle of the sea but we are all safe.”
Uyking asked that his mother be informed, and that a certain police official be requested to send a boat to rescue them.
Uyking estimated that they were located some 20 to 30 km off the coastlines of Don Marcelino and Sta. Maria towns in Davao Occidental.
“We are all tired,” Uyking told his wife.
A manifest obtained by the Inquirer listed Earlan Uyking as among the passengers of Amejara. One passenger whose name was not in the manifest had been communicated by relatives to authorities as among those in the trip.
Amejara left Sta. Ana wharf here on Saturday night even as Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) personnel did not give it clearance to sail.
On Thursday, the head of the PCG Sta. Ana substation and seven other coast guard personnel were relieved of their posts due to the incident.
