By Redempto D. Anda
Inquirer Southern Luzon
2:58 pm | Friday, June 14th, 2013
FILE PHOTO
PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Philippines—The three foreigners aboard the distressed yacht Simoune have been safely brought to the pier of El Nido town, the Armed Forces’ Western Command (Wescom), which carried out the rescue, said Friday.
Wescom in a statement issued its spokesperson, Lt. Cherryl Tindog, identified the multinational crew as Ian Riley, skipper, 50, from United Kingdom; Glenn Cooke, 51, an Australian national; and Ryan Mann, 36, a US national.
The three crew members of the Simoune left Hong Kong on June 6 intending to proceed to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. However, they encountered bad weather and rough seas conditions along the way, the Wescom statement said.
While they were sailing 70 nautical miles west of El Nido on June 12, the engine of the yacht malfunctioned and ran out of fuel, prompting the crew to send a distress signal that was picked up by Wescom’s Joint Task Force Malampaya based at the Coast Guard Station in El Nido.
The Wescom report said PG 386 was immediately dispatched for a search-and-rescue mission amid bad weather and found the yacht 2.5 nautical miles north of Lalutaya Island at 12:30 p.m. on June 13 through the assistance of the Coast Watch Station on Lalutaya Island.
PG 386 and CWS Lalutaya guided and monitored the yacht until it safely reached El Nido Pier on Thursday night.
The crew members were in good physical condition, said the report.
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Tags: El Nido , maritime accident , Simoune
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