USCG searches for three off Palau waters
US Coast Guard sector Guam is assisting in the search for three men who went missing in the waters off Palau after the small aircraft they were in ran out of fuel Sunday evening and had to make an emergency water landing.
By KUAM Newsby Nick Delgado
Guam - US Coast Guard sector Guam is assisting in the search for three men who went missing in the waters off Palau after the small aircraft they were in ran out of fuel Sunday evening and had to make an emergency water landing. LTJG Richard Russel says Coast Guard cutter Jarvis, a C-130 aircraft from Honolulu, and a Palau pacific patrol boat have spent the last day combing 230 square nautical miles of ocean, that's about 10 times the size of Guam, searching for the three. He says authorities last heard from the crew around 8pm Sunday that they were out of fuel and that their navigational system failed.
President of the Republic of Palau Johnson Toribiong posted the news on his facebook. He writes the pilot along with two Palau police officers were returning from a mission to film the area a PRC China mothership which was burned by its crew to destroy the ship and its cargo. Authorities reportedly caught several individuals illegally fishing in the waters off Palau over the weekend. Asia one news reports a fisherman was shot dead during the raid, while five others were taken into custody.
Meantime, LTJG Russel says search efforts continue today both east and west of Peleliu and Angaur for the Cesna aircraft and the three on board.