ZAMBOANGA CITY — The Philippine Coastguard (PCG) has rescued a distressed wooden-hulled vessel carrying 13 people near Mapun Island in the province of Tawi-Tawi, a PCG official said Tuesday.
Lt. Commander Noriel Ramos, Zamboanga Coastguard Station commander, said the vessel, M/L Sabrina, was rescued Monday afternoon hours after coastguard authorities received a distress call.
Ramos said the distress call was relayed to them around 10 a.m. Monday by Anthony Arellano, the skipper of the Marshall Islands-flagged Bulk Carrier Nikolaos A, saying M/L Sabrina was drifting north of Mapun Island.
Ramos said that Capt. Joseph Coyme, Coastguard Southwestern Mindanao District commander, immediately dispatched BRP-Malabrigo (MRRV-4402) and BRP-Cape San Agustin (MRRV-4408), to locate the whereabouts of the vessel in distress.
He said M/L Sabrina, which was loaded with an undetermined amount of sugar, drifted at sea after it encountered mechanical trouble while traveling from Malaysia to the Philippines via Tawi-Tawi.
M/L Sabrina was towed to the Mapun port after the two PCG multi-role response vessels found its exact location. (Teofilo Garcia, Jr/PNA)
