Philippines capital MANILA (updated 11:49 a.m.) – The Philippine Coast Guard said on Wednesday that three Filipino fishermen perished after their fishing boat was rammed by a foreign commercial vessel off Bajo de Masinloc.
Around 4:20 a.m. on Monday, a still-unidentified foreign vessel struck the Filipino fishing boat Dearyn while it was tethered to a payao, or floating fish aggregating device, 85 nautical miles northeast of Bajo de Masinloc, commonly known as Scarborough Shoal.
The crew of the mother boat “failed to detect an unidentified vessel approaching due to adverse weather conditions causing darkness, resulting in a collision that caused the mother boat to capsize,” according to the Coast Guard.
Three people on board died as a result of this, including the skipper.
According to a PCG report, Pacific Anna, a crude oil tanker using the Marshall Islands’ flag, may have collided with the fishing vessel. According to the report, the vessel “aligns with the details provided by the fishermen.”
The PCG will get in touch with the vessel’s flag and the following port the said vessel will call before being boarded by the PSCOs. The ship is in route to Singapore and is owned or operated by Atlantiss Ship Management, which has its headquarters in the city state, according to maritime traffic tracker MarineTraffic.
The 11 survivors brought the dead victims to Infanta town in Pangasinan using their eight service boats. They arrived on Tuesday early in the morning and informed a PCG substation of the event.
Investigation
In addition to expressing his sadness at the occurrence, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. promised that the government will help the victims and their families.
According to Marcos, “the incident is still being investigated to determine the specifics and circumstances surrounding the collision between the fishing boat and a commercial vessel that has not yet been identified.”
Let’s let the PCG do its job and look into it, and let’s not speculate while it’s doing so, he continued.
PAMALAKAYA, an advocacy group, urged the Marcos government to provide a fair investigation “regardless of who the perpetrator was.”
Fernando Hicap, national head of PAMALAKAYA, remarked, “It is unfortunate that Filipino fishermen have to be exposed and unprotected in our own traditional waters.”
The Philippines recently demolished a 300-meter floating barrier that had been put in place by the China Coast Guard close to the southern entrance to the traditional fishing site, which caused tensions at the Scarborough Shoal to rise.
