MANILA:  , The Philippine Navy rescued 121 people aboard a boat six days after it went adrift at sea, officials said on Wednesday ( Jan 15 ).
The J Sayang 1 experienced communication equipment malfunction while traveling domestically across the Sulu Sea in “adverse wind conditions,” according to a military speech. The ship lost website strength, ran out of fuel, and suffered communication equipment failure.
The missing vessel was discovered on Tuesday off the southern Tawi-Tawi island of the Philippines by a navy patrol boat, the report continued.
Its 106 passengers and 15 staff members, all Filipinos, were “psychologically distressed after days of minimal food and water” but were otherwise physically well, the statement said.
A military standard in the area told AFP that the boat has a” 40 to 50 ton capacity” and that the passengers and crew could eat” stock food in the boat.”
The ship had drifted off the little island of Pangutaran, where the navy claimed the ship’s engine had failed, about 100 kilometers south over the course of six days.
The ship had been reported missing while traveling from Zamboanga, one of the country’s most rural areas, to the Turtle Islands near Malaysia, which is about 430 kilometers away.