ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 7, 2013) – Three fishermen were killed and two others missing in a suspected pirate attack off the southern Filipino province of Tawi-Tawi, police said Saturday.
Police said the bodies of Van Gala, 51, of Zamboanga City; Joel Salig, 38, from Zamboanga Sibugay province; and Walter Cutad, 31, of Dipolog City, were peppered with bullets when recovered in a boat in the Sulu Sea. Their companions Jhon Descalzo and Bucoy are still unaccounted and their fate remains unknown.
“The incident happened in the part of Tawi-Tawi province,” Senior Superintendent Abraham Orbita, police chief of the neighboring province of Sulu, told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
The victims were crew members of a fishing boat sent out by GMA Fishing Company based in Zamboanga City.
Company officials reported the attack to authorities that led to the recovery of the slain fishermen and their boat drifting at sea. The bodies of the victims were brought to Zamboanga City.
Pirate attacks are not uncommon in the Sulu Sea, but they are also not rampant. Police said it is investigating the attack. (With a report from Ely Dumaboc)
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