The Philippine Coast Guard has confirmed the recovery of the bodies of six individuals who are believed to have been on board a recreational dive boat that capsized in the Davao Gulf in the southern Philippines early last week.
The six bodies were recovered over the weekend during the ongoing multi-agency search for the dive boat Amejara and 14 of the 15 people who were on board when she capsized. Only one survivor, identified as one of the boat’s four crewmembers, has so far been found.
Four bodies were pulled out of the water by the crew of a Philippine Navy vessel while the fifth was recovered by the coast guard after being spotted floating on the surface during an aerial search of the area.
The body of the sixth victim was found by a patrol boat crew from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources on Sunday, January 25.
Commodore Philipps Soria, Commander of Coast Guard District Southeastern Mindanao, told local news outlet GMA that the search for the dive boat's eight missing passengers and crew will continue.
Amejara had sailed out of the municipality of Governor Generoso in Davao Occidental province with 11 divers and four crewmembers at around 13:00 local time on January 19.
Within hours of the departure, personnel at the coast guard station in Governor Generoso were notified that the dive boat had capsized due to strong winds and rough waves and that its occupants were clinging onto the overturned hull to keep from drowning. However, the coast guard found no sign of the boat or its occupants upon reaching the area later that same day.
The lone survivor was located floating in the water the day after the boat had capsized. He was the first of the 15 people on the dive boat to be found.
The loss of Amejara occurred within the same 48-hour period as two other capsizing incidents in southern Philippine waters, one off Tawi-Tawi province and another off Surigao del Norte province.
