PCG recovers rammed fishing boat

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Coast Guard has recovered the fishing boat that was rammed by a foreign vessel off Bajo de Masinloc in early October, an incident that left three Filipino fishermen dead.

With the retrieval of the fishing vessel, the PCG’s fact-finding committee will preserve it as a piece of evidence as part of its ongoing investigation on the allision incident, said Coast Guard Vice Admiral Joseph Coyme.

 “The fact-finding committee will now finalize its investigation in the soonest possible time, because this will help a lot in pursuing a solid case against the ship owner and the master of the vessel responsible for that allission incident,” said the head of the PCG’s fact finding committee.

 FB Dearyn was successfully refloated on Saturday and sent to Zambales on Sunday.

“With the vessel now recovered, the Philippine National Police (PNP) forensics will be able to conduct a thorough investigation, further strengthening the case against the Marshall Flag vessel,” PCG Spokesperson Jay Tarriela said in a statement.

PCG SUCCESSFULLY RECOVERS CAPSIZED FISHING VESSEL, FB DEARYN, FOLLOWING ALLISION WITH FOREIGN VESSEL

The @coastguardph has successfully recovered the capsized fishing vessel, FB Dearyn, which was involved in a collision with the foreign vessel identified as MV Pacific Anna based… pic.twitter.com/mOe8srKnxY

A foreign crude oil tanker collided with the moored fishing boat on October 2, resulting in the deaths of three Filipino fishermen and injuries to 11 others. 

The fatalities were identified as Captain Dexter Laudencia, aged 47, and his crew members Romeo Mejeco, aged 38, and Benedicto Olandria, aged 62, all from Barangay Calapandayan in Subic, Zambales. 

The incident occurred approximately 85 nautical miles off Panatag Shoal.

The PCG told a Senate hearing last week that it has sent communications to the flag state of the vessel about the incident and could forward the findings of its investigation to the Department of Foreign Affairs once completed for diplomatic action. — Cristina Chi