Filipino fishermen rescued, 261 still missing
Low-flying search planes spotted three Filipino fishermen drifting at sea and flashing mirrors to signal for help, as authorities stepped up the search Wednesday for 261 others still missing.
Low-flying search planes spotted three Filipino fishermen drifting at sea and flashing mirrors to signal for help, as authorities stepped up the search Wednesday for 261 others still missing more than a week after a powerful typhoon killed hundreds in the southern Philippines.
The Indonesian government sent a ship to join the search for the fishermen, who may have been swept toward the Celebes Sea from the Pacific Ocean off southern Mindanao Island, said regional military spokesman Captain Severino David.
A total of 35 fishermen have been rescued in the past three days, including three found on Tuesday in a small boat drifting about 255 kilometres east of Davao Oriental province, where the typhoon made landfall December 4, David said.
They were found by low-flying search planes who passed on the co-ordinates to rescue ships. Although weak and dehydrated, some were still able to signal to the planes using mirrors, David said.
“The typhoon caught up with them, and they may have lost their way and ran out of fuel,” he said.
The more than 300 tuna fishermen were about 220 kilometres east of Davao Oriental province as early as October. Typhoon Bopha’s top winds of 210 kilometres per hour apparently made it difficult for them to return to shore.
