KIDAPAWAN CITY (Mindanao Examiner / June 13, 2012) – Philippine rescue units continued the search Wednesday for dozens of mostly fishermen who are missing at sea in the southern province of Sarangani, government officials said.
Officials said 75 fishermen had been rescued since Tuesday in the province after heavy rains battered small boats off Sarangani Bay. The provincial government said 11 fishermen are missing in Glan and the military claimed that 88 people are still missing, mostly fishermen from the coastal town of Maasim.
“Our latest reports show that 88 more people, mostly fishermen from Maasim town, are also missing,” Major Rosa Maria Cristina Manuel, of the 10th Infantry Division, told the Mindanao Examiner.
Two people also died in flash floods that submerged many villages and displaced thousands of people in Sarangani, according to Ben Solarte, head of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office.
“A total of 568 families in three villages of Glan – Pangyan, Big Margus and Cross – were affected by flash floods,” he said.
But Glan Mayor James Victor Yap said three dozen villages were affected by flash floods on Tuesday and the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council on Wednesday afternoon declared the entire town under a state of calamity following.
Weather experts said a shallow low pressure area in the southern Philippines triggered the rains. (Mindanao Examiner)
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