TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines- The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) continues with its search and rescue operations for the 21 missing crew of a foreign ship that sank off Philippine Seas.
In an interview on Saturday, October 14, Ensign Joel Nieva of the PCG North Luzon told The Northern Forum that they have requested for the rescue vessel and chopper from the national headquarters to help locate the missing crew.
The vessel, identified as MV Emerald Star, sank off 151 nautical miles of Santa Ana town in Cagayan province.
Nieva said they received an information from the Japan, Korea, and Norway rescue coordinating councils around 1:25 am on Friday, October 13, that the vessel sent a distress signal.
Eleven passengers were rescued by passing MV Densa Cobra while 5 others were rescued by SM Samarinda.
“As of the moment, we are searching for the 21 missing but we are still verifying the figures since we have yet to get the official crew list of the cargo ship,” Nieva said a mix of Filipino and English.
Nieva added that they still cannot identify the nationality of the rescued crew. The Japan coast guard, however, identified the rescued as Indian nationals.
The 33,205-ton vessel, registered under a Hongkong flag, was on its way to Indonesia when it sank. Northernforum.net