32 Batangas fishermen rescued in Pangasinan waters

DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines – Thirty-two fishermen from Batangas province were rescued on Tuesday off Bolinao in Pangasinan province after their boat conked out and drifted for at least eight days in the West Philippine Sea, police said.

Chief Inspector Marcos Anod, Bolinao police chief, said local fishermen found the Batangas fishermen about 1:30 p.m. in a fishing boat adrift 52 kilometers northwest of Bolinao.

“The local boat skipper, Dante del Fierro, immediately communicated with the other boat’s captain, who asked for help,” Anod said. “They tried to tow the boat to the shore but it was simply too big. So the Batangas fishermen just abandoned their boat and transferred to Del Fierro’s boat.”

Anod said the Batangas fishermen left Barangay (village) Wawa in Nasugbu, Batangas, on June 15 to fish in the West Philippine Sea. After two days, their boat’s engine conked out off Mindoro Island.

Fred Castelo, Bolinao town administrator, said the Batangas fishermen arrived in the town at about 8 a.m. Wednesday after sailing for about eight hours.

“They were all tired but in good health,” said Castelo in a telephone interview. “But if nobody saw them, they would have gone farther from shore.”

He said the Batangas fishermen did not have two-way radio equipment. Their mobile phones, he said, were not working as they were too far from mobile phone transmitters.

The fishermen will stay in the town’s training center until they are fetched by Batangas officials.

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