THE Philippine Navy on Saturday sent a plane to search Indonesian waters for the remaining nine passengers of a recreational dive boat believed to have sunk in the Davao Gulf last month.
The Naval Forces Eastern Mindanao (NFEM) deployed a Beechcraft King Air C90 after the Indonesian government allowed the aerial search.
The plane will fly over Indonesian seas where the missing passengers may have drifted, the NFEM said.
The Navy’s Artemio Ricarte is also looking for the unaccounted passengers of MBCA Amejara, which had 15 people on board when it was reported missing last Jan. 19.
Five bodies recovered earlier in Sarangani Bay were believed to be among the missing boat’s passengers.
The Artemio Ricarte’s search pattern includes the waters of Sarangani, extending 118 nautical miles southwest off Palimban Point, Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat, and the Philippines-Indonesia International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL).
“The ongoing operation is being conducted in close coordination with the Eastern Mindanao Command (EMC), Office of Civil Defense Region XI (OCD XI), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), Philippine Air Force (PAF), and Indonesian counterparts,” NFEM said.
Commodore Philipps Soria, commander of the Philippine Coast Guard’s Southeastern Mindanao District, earlier reported that the Indonesia Maritime Agency has sighted objects, possibly debris or bodies, that could be from the capsized vessel.
“We received an unconfirmed report that two items were recovered by the Indonesians. We are currently verifying if these are bodies or floating objects,” Soria said.
The search has shifted westward significantly, reaching the maritime borders of Zamboanga and Basilan, he said.
