One dead after fishing boat capsizes off southern Philippines

An incident wherein a fishing boat with five crew on board capsized off Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines has left one person dead.

The incident involving the commercial fishing vessel Elsa 3 occurred some 450 metres off San Mateo Point in Zamboanga City’s Sinunuc community shortly after 17:00 local time on Monday, September 14.

The Philippine Navy multi-purpose attack craft (MPAC) BA-492 was en route to another area off Zamboanga City as part of a scheduled deployment when its crew spotted four of the distressed fishermen floating in the water and waving their arms frantically as they called for help.

As the four fishermen were brought aboard the navy vessel, they told their rescuers that the captain was still inside the overturned fishing boat.

The navy then deployed a team of divers to the incident site to assist the crew of BA-492 in the rescue of the 55-year-old captain, who was subsequently pulled unconscious from the wreck.

CPR was administered to the captain on-site but it proved ineffective. He was then brought to hospital in Zamboanga City, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Meanwhile, the four other fishermen and the capsized boat have since been brought to a navy base in Zamboanga City. No injuries have been reported among the survivors.

The fishermen said they had sailed out of Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur province and were en route to Zamboanga City when bad weather caused their vessel to capsize.