PH fishermen rescue foreign victims of pirates

COTABATO CITY—Local fishermen on Tuesday rescued 12 foreign crewmen who were thrown by pirates off their vessels, the military said Wednesday.

Maj. Chute Adecer, executive officer of the Marine Battalion Landing Team (MBLT), said the foreign crewmen—six Malaysians, five Indonesians and a Burmese—were rescued off the coast of Datu Blah Sinsuat town after pirates seized their cargo vessels named Woodman 38 and Woodman 39.

The vessels were on the way to Davao City from Sarawak, Indonesia to pick up cargo.

Adecer said the rescued men are being debriefed in Datu Blah Sinsuat before they are turned over to agencies that would attend to their needs prior to their return to their home countries.

Col. Alex Balutan, head of the 1st Marine Brigade, quoted the seamen as saying they were attacked by pirates on July 24.

Balutan gave the identities of the seamen as Zamroni Umor, Kyan Dipho Loin, Tie Sieng Huang, Marthen Lukas, Aris Ariynto, Runji Bin Chew, Rate Jusuf, Fredy Nak Nain, Razali Bin Mok, Inyoman Budha Arta and two named only as Mukli and Sutumo.

Balutan did not say which are Malaysians, Indonesians or which is Burmese among the names.

“They were forced to jump overboard (by pirates),” said Balutan.

Balutan said the crewmen used inflatable rafts that the pirate threw overboard, too.

Fishermen from Datu Blah Sinsuat on Tuesday saw the rafts carrying the crewmen and towed them to shore. Edwin Fernandez with a report from Jeoffrey Maitem, Inquirer Mindanao