By Marlon A. Loterte
LEGAZPI CITY, June 18 (PIA) -- Authorities have terminated their four-day search and rescue (SAR) operations of the seven remaining missing passengers of the MV Lady of Mount Carmel that sank early Friday morning off the waters of Aguja Point near Burias Island in Masbate.
Bicol regional director Bernardo Rafael Alejandro IV of the Office of Civil Defense said the command center has officially ended the search and rescue operations upon recommendation of the commanders of the Philippine Coast Guard, Navy and Air Force Tactical Operation Group (TOG) composite group that carried out the operations.
“The mission has been terminated on the ground that it had been carried out extensively for the past four days, surpassing the normal 48-hour SAR for missing victims," Alejandro said.
Besides, he added, extreme weather is expected for the next three days due to tropical depression “Emong,” that may endanger the lives of members of the units.
In an assessment conference here Monday morning, Commodore Aaron Reconquista, PCG commander in Bicol, said the teams did their best efforts since the first day of operation and so far these efforts have failed to find those missing.
Alejandro meanwhile said the teams decided to shift their operations from SAR to search and retrieval wherein local land, sea and air assets have been alerted at the community level to monitor if there are floating bodies or debris that have been sighted in the shorelines of coastal villages of Aroroy town.
When asked if there is any time frame for the search and retrieval operation, Reconquista said that as a normal practice, it will be an indefinite SAR operation as it all will depend on how the missing bodies, debris and pollutants will show up.
At the assessment meeting, Alejandro said at least five air assets (two islander planes and three helicopters) from TOG 5, Navy and PCG; four sea vessels from the Navy and PCG, and two motor bancas from local Bantay Dagat and BFAR were used during the three-day SAR operations.
He said the search teams have covered some 400 square kilometers of sea area in searching for the missing bodies while the air assets (planes and helicopters) also consumed 15 hours of flying time in the search.
Reconquista said the MV Lady of Mount Carmel was carrying a total of 70 passengers, 57 of whom were in the manifest while 13 were not listed.
Sixty one passengers survived, two elderly women died and seven remain missing when the 94-ton Ro-Ro passenger-cargo vessel sank on Friday morning some 11 nautical miles from the port of gold-rich Aroroy town in Masbate. (MAL/OCD5/PIA5)
LEGAZPI CITY, June 18 (PIA) -- Authorities have terminated their four-day search and rescue (SAR) operations of the seven remaining missing passengers of the MV Lady of Mount Carmel that sank early Friday morning off the waters of Aguja Point near Burias Island in Masbate.
Bicol regional director Bernardo Rafael Alejandro IV of the Office of Civil Defense said the command center has officially ended the search and rescue operations upon recommendation of the commanders of the Philippine Coast Guard, Navy and Air Force Tactical Operation Group (TOG) composite group that carried out the operations.
“The mission has been terminated on the ground that it had been carried out extensively for the past four days, surpassing the normal 48-hour SAR for missing victims," Alejandro said.
Besides, he added, extreme weather is expected for the next three days due to tropical depression “Emong,” that may endanger the lives of members of the units.
In an assessment conference here Monday morning, Commodore Aaron Reconquista, PCG commander in Bicol, said the teams did their best efforts since the first day of operation and so far these efforts have failed to find those missing.
Alejandro meanwhile said the teams decided to shift their operations from SAR to search and retrieval wherein local land, sea and air assets have been alerted at the community level to monitor if there are floating bodies or debris that have been sighted in the shorelines of coastal villages of Aroroy town.
When asked if there is any time frame for the search and retrieval operation, Reconquista said that as a normal practice, it will be an indefinite SAR operation as it all will depend on how the missing bodies, debris and pollutants will show up.
At the assessment meeting, Alejandro said at least five air assets (two islander planes and three helicopters) from TOG 5, Navy and PCG; four sea vessels from the Navy and PCG, and two motor bancas from local Bantay Dagat and BFAR were used during the three-day SAR operations.
He said the search teams have covered some 400 square kilometers of sea area in searching for the missing bodies while the air assets (planes and helicopters) also consumed 15 hours of flying time in the search.
Reconquista said the MV Lady of Mount Carmel was carrying a total of 70 passengers, 57 of whom were in the manifest while 13 were not listed.
Sixty one passengers survived, two elderly women died and seven remain missing when the 94-ton Ro-Ro passenger-cargo vessel sank on Friday morning some 11 nautical miles from the port of gold-rich Aroroy town in Masbate. (MAL/OCD5/PIA5)
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