The Philippine Navy's newest guided missile frigate came to the aid of fishermen who had gone adrift in the waters off Palawan province in the western Philippines after their boat capsized earlier this week.
The Jose Rizal-class frigate BRP Antonio Luna was conducting a regular maritime patrol off Palawan when it was ordered to sail to Manamoc Island to pick up all 35 crewmen of the fishing boat Prince Edge 1, which capsized due to bad weather on Monday, December 27.
The navy first learned of the capsizing on Tuesday, December 28, after the captain of another fishing boat informed the authorities of the incident via a telephone call.
The frigate reached Manamoc Island and picked up the stranded fishermen on Thursday, December 30. All 35 survivors were provided with food and clean clothing and later brought to their hometown of San Jose in Occidental Mindoro province some 170 kilometres away.
After offloading the rescued fishermen, the crew of Antonio Luna returned to the waters off Palawan to resume their regular maritime patrols and to conduct humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) missions in the aftermath of Typhoon Rai.