Missing fishermen in Philippines
BANGAR, Philippines (Reuters) -- Ships and planes have scoured the northern Philippine seas for dozens of fishermen missing after waves the size of two-storey buildings smashed their boats to pieces.
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Forty-eight fishermen have been rescued after swimming ashore while clinging desperately to the wreckage of their boats, while at least 67 were still missing two days after gale force winds and giant waves caught them at sea, the coast guard said.
One man drowned.
Officials and survivors said the waves were huge enough to crush some of the 80 outrigger fishing boats estimated to be at sea at the time.
"Wave after wave struck us, as tall as two-storey buildings," 47-year-old Alfredo Macayan told Reuters. "I prayed, 'Lord, save me and my son'."
Macayan said he and his teenaged son hung on tightly to the outrigger of their smashed boat and swam towards shore.
But they lost four companions on two other boats.
"Their boats overturned and my companions sank into the sea. I never saw them again," Macayan said, speaking in dialect.
Tragedies at sea are common in the Philippines, an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands that is buffeted by 20 typhoons each year, on average.
The disaster took place on Friday night in the seas off La Union Province, 250 km (155 miles) north of Manila, local officials said, clarifying an earlier coast guard report that said it happened early on Saturday.
Scores of women in the town of Bangar -- home to many of the missing fishermen -- wept as they gathered under a mango tree to pray for the return of their menfolk.
"Please help me, my husband and son have not come back," pleaded distraught housewife Marilyn Ramos, who is seven months' pregnant, when she saw a Reuters television and picture crew.
Nearby, Ramos' 72-year-old mother-in-law had sunk on her knees to the ground, her hands clasped in prayer, her body shaken by sobs.
Boats carrying the old woman's husband, five sons and an in-law have not reached shore.
Captain Eduardo Legazpi, chief of the coast guard for the northern Philippines, said 115 men were originally listed as missing. "But we have recovered 48, so we are still looking for 67 more," he added.
Officials said more than 100 fishermen went to sea on Friday afternoon to hunt for the octopus and yellow fins that abound in the area, but were caught by big waves after nightfall.
"I have trust in our fishermen that they will survive. They are a sturdy people," said Gary Pingzon, the mayor of Bangar.
On Sunday, two air force helicopters and several coast guard ships scoured the seas of La Union, assisted by scores of civilian volunteers on outrigger boats.
"Maybe they were swept out farther to sea or to other villages," coast guard Commander Romeo Rivero told Reuters, when asked if the missing fishermen might have drowned.
"It is possible they may have taken shelter somewhere."
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Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
