Missing Quezon fisher emerges in Batanes after 45 days at sea

FIRST AID A coast guard helps rehydrate fisherman Robin Dejillo. —PHOTO FROM FACEBOOK OF PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD

MANILA, Philippines — A fisherman from Quezon province was rescued in Batanes waters on Sept. 19 more than a month after he went missing, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said on Friday.

Robin Dejillo, 49, a resident of Purok Rosas, Barangay Dinahican in Infanta, Quezon, was reported missing in Aug. 4 this year, according to the PCG.

The PCG said he was rescued by the Coast Guard Station in Batanes after the patrol team sighted a white boat with a man on board.

The PCG personnel in Batanes assisted the fisherman and towed his fishing boat to the Port of Basco in the province’s capital.

The PCG did not specify where he was reported lost and where he was found, but his hometown of Infanta is about 352 nautical miles (652 kilometers) from Batanes where he was found.

Dejillo, the PCG said, failed to return to their mother boat after his motorbanca ran out of gas while conducting a fishing venture.

The mother boat, fishing banca Leah, left Infanta on July 16 bound for the Pacific Ocean for a fishing venture.

Dejillo survived for 45 days at sea by drinking rainwater and eating fish and was also sustained by coconuts floating at sea, the PCG said.

It said Dejillo was brought to the Batanes General Hospital for treatment and would be flown back to his hometown Infanta through an air asset of the Coast Guard Aviation Command after a “thorough medical assessment.”