PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan — A team from the Scene of Crime Operatives (SOCO) of Palawan Provincial Police Office (PPPO) is now in Mangsee Island, Balabac to help identify the fatalities.
This as the death toll soared to 32, a week after the onslaught of Tropical Storm Vinta in the island, according to reports released by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMC) on Friday.
The number of missing persons also climbed to 59 from the initial number of 27 on Wednesday.
The tally of partially and totally destroyed homes was placed at 1,519 with 143 families still living in evacuation shelters, said Vice Governor Dennis Socrates in a press conference at the provincial capitol building compound here.
PPPO Director Sr. Supt. Gabriel Lopez said the SOCO had been taking DNA samples from still unidentified victims.
“We’re getting DNA samples, photos of body markings, and others that we can use to establish their identity,” he said in the same press conference.
Search, rescue and retrieval operations by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO), the military’s disaster response initiative iCARE, Philippine Coast Guard, Palawan Provincial Office (PPO), Rescue 165, and other line agencies continue around the 23-hectare isolated island barangay, Socrates said.
“Those who lost their lives were apparently at sea when the tropical storm struck. From time to time, a cadaver is discovered,” said Socrates, one of the provincial government officials to visit Mangsee on December 26.
Since December 24, around 23 vessels have been reported missing and five of those are large fishing boats.
“These vessels were actually sheltering on Mangsee Island and their crewmen did not get down. When Vinta came, many these keeled over and the crewmen were lost, but some were also on the high seas. There were survivors in Mapun, somewhere near Tawi-tawi,” he said.
An estimated 73 rescued survivors and two dead crewmen are expected to be sent back home to Palawan in the next few days. Other survivors have not been reported from nearby provinces.
Provincial Administrator Lawyer Joshua Bolusa described that the damage on the air, as well as on land, on Mangsee is “substantial as far as the destruction of homes is concerned.”
“When I talked to the residents, they told me that even prior to Vinta, they are no longer able to go out to sea to fish because the wind was very strong. They really need food,” he said.
The PDRRMO was able to mobilize immediately on December 26 the transport of 10 sacks of rice, including water, via a Sokol helicopter to cater to 161 evacuees taking shelter in an elementary school.
A navy vessel with the capability to make potable water out of seawater is now in Mangsee to help families.
“The residents really took a beating but they are eager to stand and with our help, they will. We have to help them,” Bolusa said. (PNA)
