Six Filipino fishermen sent home

PALU, Central Sulawesi: The immigration authorities have sent six fishermen from the Philippines stranded here to the North Sulawesi capital of Manado, where they would be shipped home.

Antara quoted immigration office chief M. Husin Alaydrus as saying here on Friday the six fishermen from Mindanao in the southern Philippines were transported on KM Kambuna.

The fishermen were crew of fishing boat Isoso, according to the news agency. They were found in a very sick condition on Nov. 4 on the beach by locals of Bodi village, Paleleh district in the regency of Buol Tolitoli.

The fishermen would be handed over to the Philippines consulate in Manado.

"Those fishermen were found without any single immigration document on them. But it was because of a mishap. They had had an accident when they were fishing in Philippines waters around Mindanao," Alaydrus said.

There was no indication they had been fishing illegally in Indonesian waters, he added.

The boat captain, Melchior Tagoalon, said here that four days after they set sail on Oct. 4 around the Mindanao waters, they were struck by high waves and their engine went dead. (swe)