Rescue at sea

MANILA, Philippines – Four seamen rescued three families 12 kilometers off the shore of Iligan City. Three adults and five children, including a two-year-old girl, were plucked from treacherous seawaters before noon of Saturday, December 17.

Chief officer Edberto Calungsod, a seafarer from Southern Leyte, along with 2nd engineer Claudio Forones from Davao, AB Roy Tejada from Aklan, and AB Avy Solis from Iloilo were on board a chartered cargo ship bound for Iligan when they saw the flashflood survivors clinging to floating banana trunks, crying for help. 

They immediately responded using the ship’s rescue boat.

According to Calungsod, the survivors, including their houses, were washed off the shores of Bayu Island. 

The survivors were turned over to the coast guard. 

“Di namin akalain na ganun mangyayari kaya medyo kinabahan. Pero iba ang pakiramdam (na nakatulong kami),” Calungsod said in a phone interview. (We never expected that would happen that’s why we grew nervous. But the feeling of being able to help is different.)

Calungsod captured the heartwarming rescue using a Nokia C5 phone. – Rappler.com