56 fishermen still missing in Ilocos due to Tropical Storm ‘Kabayan’
Fifty-six fishermen remained missing due to Tropical Storm “Kabayan,” the Office of Civil Defense in Ilocos said on Monday, Oct. 5.
There were 158 fishermen rescued and returned safely, and 56 fishermen missing in the waters of Pangasinan, the OCD said in a report as of 9 a.m.
The fishermen went missing in the waters of Bolinao, Infanta, Dasol in Pangasinan along the West Philippine Sea.
Mark Masudog, information officer of OCD in Ilocos region, said they were hoping that more fishermen would be rescued.
“Based sa mga natatanggap naming reports, kalmado naman daw po yung dagat kaya sila lumayag. Hanggang sa naratnan na sila ng bagyo kaya nahirapan na silang makabalik, pero as of our monitoring naman, nababawasan naman na yung mga missing, so hopefully yung 56 na to mabawasan pa,” he said.
(Based on the reports that we got, the sea was calm that’s why they went out fishing. And then a storm came which made it difficult for them to go back. We’re hoping that the number of missing persons, now at 56, will still be reduced.)
The fishermen were reportedly given a warning to avoid fishing by the Coast Guard but it seemed that they resisted.
“Patuloy naman yung pagbibigay namin ng mga advisory, pero as usual matitigas ang ulo lumayag pa rin. Kaya madami pa ring nadatnan ng bagyo,” Masudog said.
(We continually give out advisories but as usual they’re hard-headed and still went fishing… that’s why a lot of them were caught by the storm.)
A Navy plane and Coast Guard vessels have been deployed to locate the missing fishermen, said Ensign Adeltrude Datayata of Naval Task Force-40.
The search will go through the whole fishing ground where the fishermen reportedly went fishing.
In a separate report, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said that as of 8 a.m., there are still 6,480 persons or 1,391 families still in evacuation centers of La Union, Aurora, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija and Zambales because of Kabayan.
One was killed from the storm, identified as Quintero Artemio from Poblacion Infanta in Pangasinan. He went fishing last Oct. 1 and went missing. His body was found last Oct. 3 in Brgy. Tupa in Agno.
The report also said 27 fishermen remained missing in Ilocos region and Central Luzon.
A total of 48 villages are still flooded in the provinces of Pangasinan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija and Pampanga.
Damage to agriculture caused by Kabayan was at P1,120,716.59. Aurora had agricultural damage worth P1,116,615.25 and Pangasinan had P4,101.34.
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