By Gabriela Baron
The Department of Tourism (DOT) assured Monday, May 1, that it is monitoring the maritime incident that occurred in Tubbataha, Palawan over the weekend.
M/Y Dream Keeper, a dive yacht, sank off Tubbataha waters on Sunday, with four individuals remaining missing.
“The Department of Tourism remains in close coordination with the national agencies concerned in monitoring the developments of the ongoing search and rescue operations relative to the capsizing of the dive yacht M/Y Dream Keeper,” DOT said in a statement.
Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco met with Department of National Defense Acting Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. and Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief Gen. Andres Centino to discuss ongoing search and rescue efforts.
Frasco instructed the DOT Dive Committee, including the Philippine Commission on Sports Scuba Diving, the Department’s attached agency in charge of regulating scuba sports and technical diving in the country, to extend all assistance possible to the survivors of the capsized yacht.
There were a total of 32 individuals on board the yacht, of the number, 15 were crew members, 12 were passengers or guests, and five were dive masters.
Located in Palawan, the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park is home to a great diversity of marine life.
The reef ecosystems support over 360 species of coral and almost 700 species of fish. – cf