Advertisement
Advertisement
The Philippines
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
The MV Vienna Wood pictured in 2012. Photo: Twitter

14 missing in Philippines after Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship collides with fishing boat

  • The Hong Kong-flagged Vienna Wood collided with the Liberty 5 fishing boat in the early hours of Sunday morning
  • A coastguard light plane and a helicopter joined the search on Monday for the 12 fishermen and two passengers that were on the Liberty 5
A search was under way on Monday for 14 people missing from a Philippine fishing boat that collided with a Hong Kong-flagged cargo vessel.

The boats crashed early on Sunday in waters southwest of Manila, capsizing the Philippine fishing vessel Liberty 5 off the coast of Occidental Mindoro province.

German man arrested in Philippines for killing wife, trying to escape

The captain of the cargo ship Vienna Wood, which is registered in Hong Kong, called for help “a few hours later” and the vessel was being escorted to land by the Philippine Coast Guard, said agency spokesman Commodore Armando Balilo.

It was not immediately clear if the Liberty 5 had sunk.

01:17

Philippine officials unveil beaching ramp on disputed South China Sea island

Philippine officials unveil beaching ramp on disputed South China Sea island

Philippine authorities deployed aircraft and ships in the hunt for the missing people, who included 12 Filipino crew members and two passengers.

The fishing boat had been heading for metropolitan Manila when the collision happened.

The Vienna Wood was being escorted by a Philippine coastguard vessel to nearby Batangas province, the coastguard said.

The vessel with 20 crew on board was not carrying any cargo at the time of the collision. It had been en route to Australia.

The wreckage of a Filipino fishing boat that was hit by a Chinese fishing trawler in June last year. Photo: AP

The Philippines has a poor shipping safety record, with scores dying in mishaps at sea each year, usually aboard wooden-hulled outriggers that move people from one small island to another.

In June last year a Chinese fishing trawler hit and sank a Filipino boat more than 300 kilometres further to the southwest near Reed Bank, an area of the South China Sea within Manila’s territory but which is also claimed by Beijing.
Vietnamese fishermen rescued 22 Filipinos after that collision, which left President Rodrigo Duterte facing accusations of defending Beijing. Duterte has tried to play down the case, calling it an “accident” and accepting Beijing’s offer to conduct a joint investigation.
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Philippine boat collides with HK cargo ship
Post