Coast Guard rescues 21 from sunken vessels

The Philippine Coast Guard rescued 21 people from three vessels that sank off Manila Bay as Typhoon Milenyo wreaked havoc on Metro Manila last Thursday.

Search and rescue (SAR) teams plucked crew members of a sunken yacht and several fishermen from two motorboats that were found floating on bay waters.

Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Joseph Coyme said the first batch of survivors were rescued at 5 p.m. last Thursday near the Baclaran reclamation area.

The four crew men of the M/Y Limahong were identified as Cenon Vergara, Ernesto Villanueva, Eleuterio Satera and Leo Ventillido.

Another crew man of the yacht, identified as Jeffrey Tan, has been reported missing after the sinking of the vessel, which was imported from Okinawa, Japan and was supposed to be transformed into a floating restaurant in Batangas.

Coyme said the SAR teams then next rescued at 6:30 p.m. three men from an unidentified fishing boat that sank off Manila Bay. They were identified as Elvin Monsaga, Almera Monsaga and Bartolome Soria.

The SAR teams from the National Capital Region detachment also rescued yesterday eight fishermen from M/V Pacita. The fishermen, who clung to the debris of their vessel for almost a day, were identified as Rick Mendoza, Romeo Sta. Cruz, Ronnie Genosa, Juanita Rodriguez, Joseph Macabay, Rachel Villavelega and a certain Rosario.

At around 4 p.m., SAR teams rescued six crew members of another yacht, the M/Y Tristar, which had been reportedly missing last Thursday.

All six were found floating in the waters of Samal in Bataan. They were identified as Francis Dimayacyac, Mario Azul, Marlon Hapitat, Melody de San Jose, Ludi Gallardo and Nelo Ceno.

Coast Guard teams also recovered the yacht, which was on its way to the Manila Yacht Club from the shelter area in Baseco, Manila.

Coyme said those rescued were brought to the Coast Guard headquarters.

The Coast Guard said they will continue to monitor and check all ports and coordinate with shipping operators to check other possible incidents.