Philippine Coast Guard search for 11 missing divers

UPDATED: DIVE-BOAT CREW-MEMBER FOUND

A search and rescue operation to locate 11 missing recreational divers and crew whose boat capsized is being conducted by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) off the province of Davao Oriental on the southern island of Mindanao.

The PCG reported that its vessel BRP Malamawi had been deployed in the southern part of the Davao Gulf in a bid to find the missing divers. Officials believe that they could still be holding onto the overturned hull of their dive-boat.

UPDATED 20 January: Dive-boat crew-member found

A survivor from the missing Amejara dive-boat, one of the four crew, was picked up by Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) yesterday, but there was no sign of the vessel, the 11 divers or the other crew-members. 

Initial PCG reports had indicated that the boat had left Governor Generoso on Davao Oriental to visit a dive-site, but it later emerged that it had in fact left Davao City on the other side of the Davao Gulf on the evening of 17 January and had been heading for Governor Generoso, some 200km away, when it went missing.

The PCG said that the crew-member had been picked up drifting off Sarangani at around 11am this morning (20 January). The island lies far from Governor Generoso to the south of Mindanao, and SAR operations were reported to have been intensified in the area, in co-ordination with fishing communities and local government units.

“The SAR team will continue doubling its effort and do everything to locate the passengers and ensure their safety,” said PCG Commodore Philipps Soria.

The divers had left to visit a dive-site from the municipality of Governor Generoso at around 1pm today (19 January) onboard a timber motor banca or outrigger boat identified as MBCA Amejara.

Later in the afternoon, the Coast Guard in Governor Generoso received a mobile-phone message reporting that the boat had capsized. At that time the divers had been clinging onto the hull.

“We are still searching the general area where we received the mobile-phone message from the divers,” a Coast Guard officer told MindaNews. Other local divers spoke of their belief that currents could be driving the banca west towards the other side of the Davao Gulf, and further unconfirmed reports stated that there had been 15 people on the boat, including the captain and crew.

Mindanao does not attract a great deal of international tourism, though the municipal government and local operators in Governor Generoso have been developing scuba diving as a tourist attraction in recent years, with at least 14 dive-sites identified in local waters.