Search on for missing US sailboat

MANILA, Philippines –  The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) yesterday deployed air and sea assets as search and rescue operations were launched to find a sailboat that has been missing for five days with five Americans on board, including a Filipino-American member of the United States Air Force.

PCG commandant Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo yesterday ordered search and rescue operations for The Pineapple that departed Guam last Jan. 6 and was expected to arrive in Cebu in 10 days or not later than Jan. 16.

But until noon yesterday, PCG headquarters said there has been no reported sighting of the sailboat.

The PCG deployed an Islander airplane and the BRP San Juan patrol boat.

Tamayo also issued a Notice to Mariners (Notam) instructing vessels in the area to be on the lookout for the boat and to render immediate assistance. 

The PCG’s 10 districts, 55 field stations and 119 detachments have been ordered to help in the search.

The missing boat was described as a 38-foot long twin-hulled catamaran with white hull and white sails.

PCG spokesman Lieutenant Commander Arman Balilo said that they have also been coordinating with their counterparts in Guam.

Initial information said The Pineapple left the Marianas Yacht Club on Jan. 6 en route to Cebu.

It was only last Tuesday morning when relatives of the missing passengers reported to the US Coast Guard that the sailboat had not yet not reached its destination.

The US embassy then sought the assistance of the PCG.

It was reported that efforts to communicate and locate the sailboat have been hampered by the sailboat’s lack of reliable long-range communication equipment.

Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Administrator Benito Ramos said that the PCG is conducting the search and rescue operations near Eastern Visayas and Surigao.

He said the US Coast Guard is also coordinating search and rescue in international waters near the Philippine area of responsibility.

“The seawater condition at the time of their departure from Guam was already moderate to rough due to the effect of the tail-end of a cold front,” Tamayo said.

The prolonged adverse weather systems prevailing over parts of Mindanao and the whole of the Visayas and Southern Luzon has triggered widespread flooding, landslides, strong winds and big waves that have already claimed 62 lives while 30 others remained missing, most of them fishermen.

Ramos reported that soldiers were able to reach the severely affected San Jose de Buan in Samar after days of walking to deliver food and medicine to affected residents.

“It took a few days for our troops to transport and deliver the relief goods to the affected residents of San Jose de Buan, Samar after monsoon rains ruined the access roads and bridges to and from the municipality,” Ramos said. – With Jaime Laude