BFAR-Bicol joined the search and rescue operations for DILG Sec. Robredo.  The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Regional Office No. 5 through its Fishery Resource Protection and Law Enforcement / Quick Response Team (FRPLE/QRT) participated in the Search, Rescue and Retrieval Operation for Secretary Jesse M. Robredo of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in Masbate Pass, Masbate City. The chartered plane carrying Robredo, his aide-de-camp Police Senior Inspector June Paulo Abrasado and two pilots, Captain Jessup Bahinting and Kshitiz Chand encountered engine problems as it headed to Naga City. It crashed off Masbate Pass – 500 meters before the runway of Masbate airport, while attempting an emergency landing on August 18, 2012. The intensive search and rescue operation of the BFAR team transpired for two days before Robredo’s body was found dead at sea-depths of 180 feet and brought up by a foreigner volunteer diver.
Top photos: BFAR-5 Regional Director Dennis V. del Socorro (yellow shirt) instructs the diving team as they conducted an assessment dive of the crash site. The divers discovered a cliff with an estimated depth of 250 feet with strong water current.
Bottom left photo: The BFAR-5 team was aboard patrol boat, PB-2830-10 which also assisted the Philippine Air Force technical divers who had a rubber boat malfunction. Bottom right photo: Dir. del Socorro (5th from left) and Francisco Ombao, Chief of Fisheries Regulatory and Management Division (3rd from right) with the Philippine Air Force technical divers after a long-day of searching in the waters of Masbate. (kathilotin)