ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 5, 2012) – Philippine soldiers have rescued a Frenchman man and his wife and daughter after their yacht drifted off the southern port city of Zamboanga while sailing to Africa, officials said Monday.
Officials said the boat had engine trouble and was drifting off the coastal village of Recodo where soldiers are manning a detachment.
The Frenchman identified himself as Gino Wattier, 62; and his African wife Kamaria, 45, and daughter Baraka, 8. “We are heading back to Africa from a holiday in Tahiti. We had an engine trouble and drifted here,” Wattier told Mindanao Examiner photographer Alvin Lardizabal.
Wattier said the boat cannot be controlled and they drifted to Zamboanga on November 4. He did not give additional details.
Officials said no one was reported hurt or injured. Local villagers said they were unaware that a foreign yacht had drifted off Recodo. The yacht, soldiers said, has markings “IROISE II SN.”
“They are lucky that their boat drifted here in Recodo and not in other islands which is dangerous,” one soldier said, adding the stricken vessel was towed into berth alongside a barge in Recodo.
It was not immediately known whether the military has informed the Department of Foreign Affairs or the French Embassy about Wattier. (Mindanao Examiner. With reports from Alvin Lardizabal and Ely Dumaboc)
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