Coast Guard continues search and rescue ops for cargo ship’s missing crew member

ILOILO CITY–The Philippine Coast Guard search and rescue teams will continue on Wednesday its search for a missing crew member of a cargo ship who jumped into the waters off Iloilo Monday morning to recapture his pet dove that escaped from its cage.

Crew member Ronel Balagot remained missing after two days of underwater and surface search and rescue operations by Coast Guard ships and personnel, said Commodore Athelo Ybañez, Western Visayas Coast Guard commander.

Balagot, 20, a resident of Barangay Licuan, Cagayan de Oro City, jumped from the cargo vessel M/V RKK-2 shortly before 6:30 a.m. on Monday.

The ship, operated by RKK Lines Corp., is anchored at the port of Iloilo.

The crew members led by its skipper Capt. Aveto Bautista reported the incident to the Coast Guard station in Iloilo after Licuan failed to surface and was feared to have drowned.