5 Rescued At Sea

[Medic Mike]

Sunday, February 2, 2014

CEBU CITY -- Four sailors and a passenger who went missing after their motor banca capsized between Danao City and Camotes Island were rescued on Sunday.

Police Officer 1 Christopher Pura of San Francisco Police Station said that Mario Suringga and another fisherman saw the survivors holding on to the outrigger of the capsized banca around 8 a.m. Sunday and helped them.

However, the number of deaths caused by Tropical Depression Basyang in Cebu rose to five, including a five-year-old boy who got electrocuted in Compostela.

Vincent Jayme, 5, was walking with his friends in Sitio Chicoville, Barangay Poblacion past 4 p.m. Saturday when he accidentally touched a live wire that had fallen during the storm.

In Bantayan Island, Anthony Collarte, 63, of Barangay Binaobao, was found floating off another barangay, Sulangan, last Saturday afternoon. He was reportedly heading home on his banca when he encountered some big waves.

Senior Inspector Jaime Santillan, Compostela town’s police chief, said that Collarte had gone out last Friday to extract sand, which he planned to sell to a construction outfit.

“Gibadlong siya sa iyang pamilya. Wala man naminaw (His family tried to talk him out of it, but he refused to listen),” he told Sun.Star Cebu.

Dr. Liza Rivera, the municipal health officer, said the man had drowned.

42,413 affected

Many bancas were also damaged by Basyang, Santillan said, after the owners ignored suggestions to secure these.

The tropical depression left the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Sunday, after causing at least 10 landslides and affecting at least 42,413 persons in nine provinces, reported the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

In Cebu, Basyang affected 1,402 families or more than 7,000 persons, the NDRRMC report added.

More than 20 houses, including the heritage site Balay sa Tisa in Carcar City, were damaged when Basyang struck southern Cebu late Friday night.

The next few days, however, are expected to bring better weather.

Good weather

Joey Figuracion, weather specialist at the state weather bureau’s Mactan Station, said that Cebu will have good weather in the next five days.

No low-pressure area or any weather disturbance affected the country as of Sunday, but people can expect cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers and thunderstorms.

In its 5 p.m. Sunday forecast, Pagasa said moderate to occasionally strong winds will prevail over Luzon and the Visayas. Coastal waters in these areas will be moderate to occasionally rough.

To prepare for Basyang, the second storm to hit the Visayas since Super Typhoon Yolanda last November 8, 2013, the government prepared P145 million worth of relief supplies.

Last Saturday, a pump boat with five passengers and three crew members was heading for Danao City from Camotes when big waves and a strong wind hit their boat and capsized it.

Three members of a Korean family were rescued on the same day, but five went missing.
The newly found survivors were identified as Ho Geul Ga, 26, a member of the Korean family; Julius Ferilla, 30, from Pasay City and a friend of the Koreans; Stimson Suello, 50, owner of the boat; and crew members Erron Suello, 19, and Jimson Suello, 22.

Rescued

Erron and Jimson are the son and nephew of Stimson, respectively.

Fishermen brought the survivors to the barangay hall where they were fed.

PO2 Alvin Bontilao of Cebu Provincial Police Office said the five of them were brought to Ricardo Maningo Memorial Hospital, where they were treated for minor injuries, then released.

The Koreans who were initially rescued were Kion No Ga, 55, his wife Kyougae Lee, 52, and their son In Geol Ga, 27.

Cebu Coast Guard Commander Rodulfo Villajuan said the agency will investigate what happened and find out of the boat master was liable.

Villajuan went to Danao City to check on the rescued persons. “They were okay,” he said.

Yolanda had battered more than 10 northern towns in Cebu. Basyang had been expected to hit the south harder.

In Talisay City, about 18 houses were damaged or destroyed, many of them in the mountain barangay of Manipis, where a landslide occurred.

Heritage house

Vince Monterde, Talisay City public information officer, revealed that out of the 18 houses, 15 were damaged.

In the City of Naga, about seven houses were damaged.

Garry Cabotaje, City of Naga public information officer, revealed that majority of houses that were damaged lost their roofs due to the strong winds.

In Carcar City, a Spanish colonial house in Barangay Poblacion 2 suffered some damage after floodwater entered it.

Candice Acuna, Carcar City public information officer, revealed that while the typhoon raged, a river near the heritage site overflowed, and some of the water entered the first floor of the Balay sa Tisa.

Acuna, however, said the house’s caretakers transferred some of the antique items to the upper floor.

The Balay sa Tisa, located on Sta. Catalina St., was declared as a heritage site by the National Historical Institute back in 2009.

 

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/local-news/2014/02/02/5-rescued-sea-326375