9 Singaporeans rescued off Batanes sea

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Coast Guard said on Sunday all 11 Singaporeans reported caught in a storm while kayaking in Batanes were safe and accounted for.

PCG Commandant Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo said the two Singaporeans who were earlier declared missing arrived in Basco, Batanes at around 11:30 p.m. on Saturday after being rescued by Coast Guard personnel.

Tamayo said that around 5:15 p.m. on Saturday, Coast Guard Station Basco received a phone call from Batanes Gov. Vicente Gato that 11 Singaporeans were in distress at sea while kayaking from Sabtang Island to Basco, Batanes.

Tamayo said a rescue operation was immediately conducted, resulting in the rescue of nine tourists.

Tamayo said two of them managed to go back to Sabtang on their own, four were able to reach the Port of Basco while the other three were rescued by Coast Guard Station Basco some six nautical miles off Basco.

Further, Tamayo also reported that at around 5 p.m. on Saturday, PCG Headquarters in Manila received information from its vessel traffic monitoring system on Corregidor Island that a Liberian-flagged cargo ship, MB Mell Siloso, en route to Hong Kong from General Santos, rescued a fisherman who had been adrift at sea for three days.

The fisherman identified as Oscar Morillo, 47, of Subic, Zambales, was rescued on the waters west of Cabra Island, the westernmost part of the Lubang group of islands of Occidental Mindoro, Tamayo said.

 – With Charlie Lagasca