NABAS, Aklan – Six missing fishermen here returned home safely.
They set out to sea on June 2 before Tropical Storm “Dante” (international name: Choi-wan) headed to the northern part of Aklan.
Four of the fishermen were residents of Barangay Alimbo Baybay and the others were from Barangay Buenasuerte, according to Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer II Reynard Dela Cruz.
The Nabas Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (MDRRMO) sought the assistance of the Philippine Coast Guard Caticlan Office to launch a search and rescue operation for the missing persons.
The coastguard and MDRRMO personnel were dispatched to scour the sea for any sign of the fishermen. The rescuers spent more than two hours searching.
On their own, three fishermen from Alimbo Baybay – Eugene Borris, 26; Renato Ablen, 15; and Russel Valeriano, 46, managed to return home at 6 p.m.
The next day, 58-year-old Allan Parohinog was found while on his boat was over five nautical miles off the municipal waters of Nabas at 8 a.m.
The coastguard and MDRRMO personnel brought him back home alive safely; they towed the fisherman’s boat to Alimbo Baybay’s coast.
The rescued fisherman had been lost at sea for more than 24 hours.
A live-in couple identified as Rollan Estuya, 24 and Aida Bautista, 22, from Buenasuerte were also spotted by a passing fisherman from Navitas, Numancia, Aklan at around 7 a.m.
The fishermen said the couple drifted at sea in a small, open boat. They ran out of fuel as they tried to return home.
The missing fishermen were safely brought to the shore after they were turned over by the fisherman named Moriel Roylon to the Coast Guard./PN
