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SURIGAO CITY (MindaNews/30 October) – Barangay officials and fellow fishermen in Barangay Lakandula, Placer, Surigao del Norte have launched a search for a lone fisherman who has been declared missing since 7pm Monday.
Barangay Kagawad Abelardo Lambus in a text message said a fishing crew aboard a “liba-liba” boat found the pumpboat of Lemuel “Awing” Polistico floating along the seas of Masipilid Island at about 5pm on the same day.
He said Polistico left Barangay Lakandula of Masipilid Island Placer town, Surigao del Norte onboard his pumpboat at around 4 p.m. yesterday, according to his wife, Nilfe.
A “gale storm” struck the island at about the same time that Polistico went out to sea, Lambus said.
Constancio Arpon, head of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) in Surigao City said the current weather in Surigao and the rest of the province is the normal “Amihan” or Northeast monsoon that occurs in the area every last quarter of the year.
He said the sudden heavy downpour and strong winds that were experienced around 4pm yesterday were “possibly a local weather disturbance” with “thunder clouds accompanied by a localized gale circulation.”
The same local weather disturbance could happen in different areas at different times, he said.
The said disturbance takes about “30 minutes to an hour,” Arpon said, adding residents should always be on alert because it had “caught several people unaware” and resulted in several incidence of sea mishaps in the past.
The weather official also said Surigao has only recorded a six meter per second rainfall and a 21 kilometer per hour gale yesterday. (Vanessa Almeda/MindaNews)
