107 rescued off Tawi-Tawi

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – A Navy gunboat rescued at least 107 passengers and crewmen of a wooden-hulled motor launch that capsized off Tawi-Tawi late Sunday, the Philippine Navy said yesterday.

The motor launch, M/L Lucky Man, was sailing five nautical miles off Sibutu Island in Tawi-Tawi when it was battered by giant waves and drifted to the high seas, said Lt. Junior Grade Ian Sage, spokesman of Naval Forces Western Mindanao.

Sage said the Navy, through its Naval Task Force 62, received a distress call and one of its patrol gunboats, the BRP Dioscoro Papa PG 381, promptly rushed to the scene.

Sage said the patrol gunboat found the distressed ferry already half-submerged and all its passengers and crewmen were rescued. 

In a similar incident, nine crewmen were rescued last Sunday when their motorboat encountered bad weather and sank off Pagbilao, Quezon, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said yesterday.

PCG spokesman Lt. Commander Armand Balilo said the M/B Rojyn8 left Talao Talao port in Lucena City, Quezon before dawn Sunday and was on its way to Sibuyan Island in Romblon when it was battered by strong winds and big waves. – Roel Pareño, Evelyn Macairan