7 Myanmar crew of distressed ‘fishing boat’ barred from leaving PH

STRANDED This wooden-hull vessel, carrying seven crew members from Myanmar, has been stranded in Silanguin Cove in San Antonio, Zambales. —Photo courtesy of the PCG

SAN ANTONIO, ZAMBALES, Philippines — The seven Myanmar nationals who were rescued by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) onboard a foreign wooden hull vessel that ran aground in Silanguin Cove here on Sept. 9 would not be allowed to leave Zambales pending the investigation into the incident.

In a phone interview on Saturday, Cmdr. Euphraim Jayson Diciano, PCG Zambales chief, said a preliminary investigation revealed that the vessel “Aung Naing Thu,” supposedly a fishing boat, lacked any prior coordination or ship documentation to justify its entry into Philippine waters.

“We also coordinated the incident with the Myanmar Embassy and their military attaché, who visited the crew, and, according to them, if the crew had violations, they would heed the laws and the rules of our country,” Diciano added.

READ: Myanmar vessel runs aground in Zambales

Based on the statements of the crew, who were now staying at the PCG station in Subic town, the vessel’s owner, also a Myanmar national residing in Ranong province in Thailand, hired them to get the vessel from Surat Thani province, also in Thailand.

Quoting their statements, Diciano said they traveled by boat and arrived in Ranong to meet the vessel’s owner, then traveled to Surat Thani by land for 12 hours to get the vessel.

To bring the boat from Surat Thani to Ranong, they would have to cross some borders, such as that of Malaysia and the Singapore Strait.

Suspicious

Diciano said the boat’s crew members claimed they had not left Thailand waters yet when they had engine trouble on Aug. 25 due to strong waves. They just floated in the sea for 14 days until they reached Silanguin Cove, where they ran aground on Sept. 9.

The cove is about one and a half hours by boat from the port of San Antonio.

Diciano described the events the crew members told them as “very suspicious, considering the consumption of fuel and all their efforts in transferring the said vessel.”

While the vessel looks like a fishing boat, it has no fishing equipment or gear. But the PCG was looking into their possible involvement in illegal fishing, such as poaching in the country’s waters.

Diciano said they also discovered during an underwater inspection that the boat caused damage to several coral reefs and other marine habitats in the area where it ran aground.

“We already sent a letter of request to the local offices of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the province to conduct separate investigations to support case buildup against [the Myanmar nationals],” said Diciano.