By Annabel Consuelo Petinglay
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – Four passengers on board a motorboat that capsized between the waters of the islands of Mararison and Batbatan in Culasi, Antique Wednesday evening have been rescued.
Antique Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (PDRRM) Officer Broderick Train said in an interview on Thursday that the passengers were on their way home to the island barangay of Batbatan when the incident happened.
Train said that one of the passengers, 12-year-old Cherry Ann Mateo, sought help from barangay officials and fisherfolk of Batbatan after swimming for over two hours from the site of the incident to the island barangay.
Immediately, the information was relayed to the municipal DRRM office of Culasi, while local fisherfolk had already initiated rescue operations.
Dante Salvador, 60 years old, believed to be the motorboat crew, also managed to swim to the shorelines of Barangay Batbatan.
“The two remaining passengers were finally rescued early this morning,”Train said.
He said that the two rescued passengers, Angelita Patricio and Rose Salvador were spotted by the rescuers hanging on the motorboat.
“All four passengers, who were supposedly on their way home from Culasi town proper, have now returned with their families in the island barangay of Batbatan,” Train said.
He said that the motorboat was also retrieved by the Philippine Coast Guard and the Maritime Police.
Train said that the passengers could have traveled from Batbatan to Culasi to sell the dried fish, which is their source of livelihood. (PNA)
