PCG To Send Aid To Families Of Seafarers Who Died On Capsized Chinese Vessel

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said on Wednesday it will send assistance to families of the Filipino crew who died after a Chinese fishing vessel capsized in the Indian Ocean last week.

"We are coordinating with the Department of Foreign Affairs to know how we can assist the affected families during this difficult time," Coast Guard Vice Adm. Rolando Lizor Punzalan Jr., who is also the officer-in-charge of the PCG, said in this Philippine Star report.

Distant-water fishing vessel Lu Peng Yuan Yu 028, owned by Penglai Jinglu Fishery Co. Ltd — one of China's state-run fishing companies based in Shandong province, sank on May 16 in the Indian Ocean.

The capsized vessel carried 39 maritime workers comprised of 17 Chinese, 17 Indonesians and five Filipinos. The tragedy occurred within Australia's vast search-and-rescue region, some 5,000 kilometers or 2,700 nautical miles to the west of the state capital of Western Australia - Perth, AFP reported.

None of the 39 crew members of the Lu Peng Yuan Yu 028 survived the tragedy, a probe initiated by Beijing said.

"From an analysis of the ship's capsizing... it is preliminarily judged that there are no survivors from the ship," Beijing's transport ministry said in an official social media post as quoted by the AFP report.

Rescuers reportedly made a thorough search in a 64,000 square kilometer area or 18,700 square nautical miles and "did not find any sign of survivors," the transport ministry added.

Seven bodies had been found by Chinese and Sri Lankan rescue vessels, Chinese state media reported on Monday. The nationalities of the dead were not specified in the report. Meanwhile, Australia had sent three airplanes and four ships to help in the joint search-and-rescue efforts to find the missing crew members. The rescue operation has been downgraded to a "48-hour small-scale investigation" as of Tuesday.

Since the incident, the PCG said it has been closely monitoring and coordinating with the Australian Maritime Rescue Center and the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines regarding the search-and-rescue operations.

"We thank the Australian SAR (Search and Rescue) teams for their efforts as we understood the risks they faced while scouring the vast waters amid unpredictable weather conditions," Punzalan told the Philippine Star.

The Philippines is considered a major source of seafarers with around 385,000 Filipinos working on different kinds of maritime vessels worldwide.