Samar boat explosion: 3 more bodies found

MIRIAM DESACADA TACLOBAN, Philippines — The remains of three more persons, believed to be among the passengers of a boat that exploded in the waters off Catbalogan, Samar last Monday were found off Tarangnan town on Thursday.

Fishermen from Barangay Cagutsan found the remains of a man floating near the islet of Libacun, Gute.

Two more bodies were sighted near the area, Joint Task Force Storm and 8th Infantry Division commander Maj. Gen. Edgardo de Leon said, citing reports from social media.

“I am sending a retrieval team to check. If that is true, then we would have accounted for four NPA (New People’s Army) terrorists dead in an off-shore encounter,” De Leon said.

On Tuesday, the remains of a woman and debris of a boat were recovered around 1.5 kilometers from the shoreline of Barangay Poblacion.

De Leon said more personnel were deployed in the area to conduct search and retrieval operations.

He said the military sought assistance from the Samar Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.

Scene of the Crime Operatives said it would take time to identify the remains as the samples collected for DNA testing would require a match from a relative.

No one has come forward to claim relationship with the fatalities.

The boat exploded for still unknown reasons as soldiers engaged in a firefight with its passengers.

Benito Tiamzon and his wife Wilma, chairman and secretary general, respectively, of the Communist Party of the Philippines, and eight other armed rebels were believed to be the passengers of the boat.

The military said that given the impact of the explosion, all the passengers of the boat died.