Pinoys rescued by Taiwan after drifting for 5 days

TAIPEI — Taiwan’s Coast Guard has rescued three Filipino fishermen who spent five days adrift when a storm blew their small boat hundreds of kilometers off course, officials said yesterday.

The three were found on Sunday 69 nautical kilometres south of Taiwan, the Coast Guard said.

They were healthy even though they had to subsist on seaweed and drink rain while drifting in rough seas.

Dehydration

The men were slightly dehydrated but otherwise “in good shape”, Hung Kuohsing, a senior coastguard official, told AFP.

The three said they set sail from Santa Ana, at the northeastern tip of Luzon, on July 15 but were blown off course by tropical storm Cimaron last week.

They told the Coast Guard they feared another Filipino sampan might have been hit by the storm, prompting a joint search by the Taiwanese Coast Guard and an airborne rescue unit.

Diplomatic row

The incident follows a major diplomatic row between Taiwan and the Philippines over the fatal shooting on May 9 of a Taiwanese fisherman near a Philippine island that Taiwan also claims as part of its economic zone.

The 65-year-old was killed when Filipino Coast Guards opened fire on the vessel he was crewing with his son and two others.

Taipei and Manila in June reached an agreement pledging not to use force in fishing disputes.