MANILA (AFP) – Eleven people were rescued at sea after two small passenger boats capsized in bad weather off the western Philippine island of Palawan, authorities said on Friday.
The boats were ferrying local residents of tiny islands around the municipality of Araceli in the Sulu Sea when they separately ran into strong winds in the same area on Wednesday, Araceli police said.
A coast guard rescue vessel found all seven people alive from one boat at midday on Friday, the agency said in a statement.
Video footage released by the coast guard showed seven people huddled precariously side by side on top of the white hull of an upturned outrigger that was being tossed by rough waves.
Nearly a fourth of the hull was ripped off.
On Thursday all four on board the other boat were rescued elsewhere in the area, Araceli police Captain Orland Sagaro told AFP. Those rescued on Friday were treated for cuts and swaddled with blankets.
“There was no storm but the northeast monsoons are quite strong in these parts. They likely took in water before they flipped over,” Sagaro said. The navy coast guard, and rescuers from the municipal government took part in the search.
Sea accidents are frequent in the Philippines, a storm-struck Asian archipelago of more than 7,000 islands with poorly regulated domestic shipping.
