6 crewmen of Taiwan ship feared dead

Six crew members of a Taiwanese fishing vessel, which capsized in Batanes last June 20, are now feared dead after a multinational rescue team failed to find any of the fishermen after seven days of searching, reports reaching Camp Aguinaldo said yesterday.

The F/V Qing-Qing Fa capsized at six nautical miles of Batanes island for still unknown reasons. It had a crew of one Filipino, one Taiwanese and four Indonesians.

The crew was reportedly able to send an SOS that was received by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), the Taipei Rescue Coordianting Center, and an international rescue center in Okinawa.

The PCG sent an aircraft to the last known location of the capsized vessel while a search-and-rescue (SAR) helicopter from Okinawa was also dispatched to the area.

The PCG also requested the crew of three Chinese fishing vessels in the area to help in the search.

After several hours of scanning the area, the PCG aircraft and the SAR chopper went back to their bases as the search proved futile. The Chinese fishing boats were also allowed to proceed to their destination.

The next day, the Okinawan chopper and PCG aircraft were joined by three more helicopters from the Philippine Air Force (PAF) but the stricken vessel was not found.

On June 24, debris from the capsized vessel was sighted about 24 nautical miles east of Itbayat Island in Batanes by PCG aircraft and the SAR chopper but rescuers could not find any of the crewmen.

At 6:15 a.m. next day, an PAF Aero Commander plane from Villamor Air Base in Pasay City, conducted an aerial search after the TRCC informed Okinawa and Philippine authorities of the location of the stricken vessel at six nautical miles west of Batanes Island.