Search for ship passenger who fell off Batangas sea suspended

Batangas/drowning. INQUIRER FILES

LUCENA CITY – Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) personnel suspended Tuesday the search for a male passenger of a cargo-passenger ship that fell into the sea in the vicinity of Calatagan town in Batangas province.

“Despite extensive efforts, the victim was not located due to poor visibility,” the PCG-District Southern Tagalog (PCG-DST) said in a report on its Facebook on Tuesday night.

The search and rescue operation was suspended at 6:20 p.m. and would be  resumed depending on the weather, the PCG said.

The PCG-DST identified the missing passenger as Ralph Bernard Gerona, 26, a resident of Iloilo City.

READ: PCG: Look after mentally handicapped companions when on ship

READ: PCG to submit in 5 days the result of probe into WPS boat collisions

The report said Gerona was a passenger of MV Maligaya, owned by 2GO Shipping Corporation. The ship left Manila for Bacolod with 425 passengers and 126 crew members.

Authorities did not give any further details on how the man ended up going overboard.

The PCG personnel in the Calatagan sub-station immediately initiated a search-and-rescue operation. Other sea vessels passing in the area also helped in the search.

The PCG alerted the Vessel Traffic Management Service-Corregidor operator on the incident.