(Update) Army Special Forces rescue govt workers in capsized pump boat off Cotabato City

From the Philippine News Agency (Jul 26): (Update) Army Special Forces rescue govt workers in capsized pump boat off Cotabato City

Government forces took time off Thursday night in securing vital government installations in the borders of Maguindanao and Cotabato City to rescue eight government workers whose pump boat capsized along the mouth of Rio Grande de Mindanao, the Army here said.

Colonel Dickson Hermoso, speaking for the Army's 6th Infantry Division, said members of the Special Forces Company station in Barangay Bucana rescued the victims at about 6 p.m. shortly after their motorized banca turned upside down.

According to Hermoso, the overloaded motorboat was heading to Cotabato City from the village of Pura in Datu Blah Sinsuat in nearby Maguindanao province.

Hermoso identified those rescued as Charisma Karon-Malolo and Moharim I Karon, both working for the Department of Social Welfare and Development-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao), Mohammad Karon, Hadja Sarah Iskak Karon, Undang Kusain, and Moein Galib, all from the office of the ARMM vice governor. Two of the rescued passengers were unidentified.

Using their Australian-made air boats, the Special Forces fished off the victims from drowning and being wash away into the high seas.

Hermoso said the timely and quick report forwarded by a certain Bong Sumlay of the National Commission on Muslim Filipino led to the rescue of the survivors.

The survivors who are already declared out of danger were on a field visit in Barangay Pura and were heading back to Cotabato City when the accident happened.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=548386