Search on for missing vessel

MANILA, Philippines – A search has been launched for a Japanese fishing vessel with a crew of nine that lost contact after leaving Davao City last July 16.

Owner Sanko Pacific Tuna Inc. told the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) it has had no contact with the vessel Kaio Maru No. 5 since Saturday, when its crew of eight Filipinos and one Japanese radioed their last location at 95 kilometers northeast of Indonesia’s Talaud Islands.

PCG Cmdr. Roy Echeverria said Sanko’s sister company in Indonesia has dispatched six search vessels.

The fishing vessel left the port city of Davao on July 16 en route to Palau in the western Pacific.