PANATAG TRAGEDY Of the 14 fishermen who went out to sea aboard the FFB Dearyn early Monday, October 2, 2023, only 11 returned alive after a foreign vessel rammed it without stopping, says the Philippine Coast Guard. Photo from PCG
MANILA, Philippines — One of the 11 Filipino fishermen who survived the collision between a Philippine boat and a foreign flag-carrying oil tanker off Scarborough Shoal was wounded, a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) official revealed Thursday.
But PCG’s Pangasinan station commander Alex Corpuz said the fisher only sustained a minor injury. He did not give the name of the fisherman.
“Out of the 11 survivors, isa lang daw po ang may tama sa paa, nasugatan lang po, pero hindi naman po siya fatal,” he said in an interview with CNN Philippines.
(Out of the 11 survivors, only one was injured in the foot, he was only injured, but it was not fatal.)
On Monday, October 2, three crew members of Filipino boat FFB Dearyn were killed following a collision with Pacific Anna, a crude oil tank ship registered under the Marshall Islands, a country in the Pacific.
Authorities identified the fatalities as boat captain Dexter Laudencia, 47, and crew members Romeo Mejeco, 38, and Benedicto Olandria, 62.
The collision happened while FFB Dearyn was moored to a “payao” or a fish aggregating device some 85 nautical miles (NM) northwest of Scarborough Shoal, which is locally known as Bajo de Masinloc and Panatag Shoal. Scarborough Shoal is likewise 180 NM from Agno, Pangasinan.
Corpuz said the crew of FB Dearyn departed from Subic, Zambales on September 26. Four days later or on September 30, the Filipino fishermen reached an area near Scarborough Shoal where the boat was stranded due to bad weather.
“Nandoon po sila sa payao nila – technically hindi po sila pwede mag angkorahe kasi napakalalim po noon – so ang ginawa nila po nakatali sila sa payao to secure ‘yung fishing boat nila at para ‘di rin po sila mapadpad, ‘yun po ang usual na ginagawa ng mga fishermen natin,” Corpuz said, citing the testimony of the fisherfolk.
(They were there in their payao – technically they couldn’t anchor because it was very deep – so what they did was tie the boat to the payao to secure their fishing boat and also to keep them from being overturned, that’s what our fishermen usually do.)
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The inclement weather and strong waves continued up until the day of the tragic incident, Corpuz added.
“Masama pa din daw po ang panahon, nakatali pa rin sila doon, umuulan, malakas ang alon, at restricted ang visibility,” he said.
(The weather was still bad, they were still tied there, it was raining, the waves are strong, and the visibility is restricted.)
“According po sa investigation natin, nagkagulatan na lang po, biglang may tumama sa kanila [na] commercial vessel and wala na po silang time para makaalis sa payao kasi ito pong mga commercial vessel na ito ay mabibilis ang takbo nila,” he added.
(According to our investigation, they were just surprised, suddenly a commercial vessel hit them and they didn’t have time to get out of the way because these are commercial vessels and they run fast.)