Search for missing Taiwanese vessel launched

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said it deployed search and rescue (SAR) teams to locate a missing Taiwanese-flagged fishing vessel. Sheng Feng No. 128, with one Taiwanese and five Indonesian fishermen on board, was last seen 414 nautical miles northwest of Palau on Feb. 17, the PCG said on Monday. “The PCG Command Center immediately directed Coast Guard Districts in Eastern Visayas, Bicol, Southeastern Mindanao, Northeastern Mindanao and Northeastern Luzon to launch SAR operations,” it said. The PCG’s Aviation Force dispatched its Cessna Caravan plane on Monday morning to conduct an aerial surveillance within the vicinity waters of Eastern Visayas and Bicol regions due to the possibility that the missing Taiwanese vessel drifted toward the country’s eastern seaboard, the PCG said. Search efforts by two US coast guard aircraft surveillance flights and a commercial vessel have so far yielded negative results, the PCG said. Eight Taiwanese fishing vessels and two Taiwan Coast Guard cutters will join the search and rescue operations.

—Frances Mangosing