Six Filipino fishermen sent home

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)