Search on for ship's 20 missing crewmen

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines  – Despite the bad weather, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) yesterday began searching for 20 of the 25 Chinese crewmen of a Panamanian-flagged vessel that sank near the Taiwan border last Nov. 9.

The other day, the Japanese Coast Guard retrieved the bodies of two crewmen of M/V Nasco Diamond, three days after the cargo ship went missing.

On the same day, joint search teams rescued three other crewmen, leaving 20 more missing.

Capt. George Ursabia, PCG-Northern Luzon district commander, said those missing may have drifted to coastlines in the South China Sea or the islands of Batanes.

“We have already ordered our men in Batanes to begin their sea-level search for the missing crew. We will particularly be searching around Itbayat Island since that is the direction the ocean current is leading to,” Ursabia said.