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BY BOY RYAN ZABAL
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KALIBO, Aklan – A motor banca capsized at Sibuyan Sea off Barangay Andagao on Friday. Five fishermen were rescued.
The men were on their way home when large waves hammered their fishing vessel around 5 a.m. At the time, Aklan and the rest of Panay Island were under storm signal No. 2 due to tropical storm “Marce.”
Rogelio Jimenez and sons Rodel and Ronilo; Jovanie Jimenez, 38; and Jegleven Canedo, 22 — all residents of Barangay New Buswang — suffered minor injuries. Rescuers brought them to the provincial hospital.
The fishermen left New Buswang around 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 23 for Cresta de Gallo in Sibuyan on board two fishing boats.
While out at sea, Jimenez and sons’ boat capsized due to strong waves, but the trio managed to swim toward the banca of the other two, and then headed toward the shore of Sitio Lambingan, Andagao around 12:50 p.m.
Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO) head John Ariel Fernandez said the survivors were safe.
“I swam using just one arm,” Rodel, who was injured on the right arm, said in Filipino. “A wave of about 6 meters high hit us. My father, brother and I were already in New Buswang before our two companions were rescued.”
At the time, the nearby Panay Island and Mindoro provinces were under signal No. 2. Around 10 a.m., the state weather bureau
Pagasa estimated “Marce” to be 90 kilometers west-southwest of Roxas City.
At the height of “Marce” at least 300 passengers were stranded at Caticlan and Cagban ports in Malay, the town’s MDRRMO said.
The Philippine Coast Guard suspended all boat trips and the operation of roll-on, roll-off vessels.
Island-hopping and other sea sports activities in Boracay were suspended, too.
Sea trips resumed only around 5 p.m. on Friday after the storm signal had been lifted, said Lieutenant Edison Diaz, officer-in-charge of the Coast Guard’s station in Caticlan.
“May mga passengers na bumalik sa kanilang hotel sa Boracay pati na ang mga na-stranded sa Caticlan kaninang umaga hanggang hapon. Sila ay naghanap na rin ng kanilang mapagpahingahan,” Diaz said.
Pagasa expects “Marce” to exit the Philippine area of responsibility on Monday morning, Nov. 28. (Aklan Forum Journal/PN)
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