24 fishermen rescued from stormy Philippine waters

Published: Friday, June 10, 2011 at 6:01 a.m.

Passing boats rescued 27 fishermen Friday from stormy waters churned up by a tropical storm in the Philippines that has left at least six people dead and 11 missing.

Philippine coast guard spokesman Lt. Col. Algier Ricafrente said 24 fishermen from a fishing boat that went missing Thursday were rescued Friday by a cargo ship off northern Pangasinan province. Three fisherman in a second boat that capsized in the area were rescued by another fishing boat, he said.

At least nine crew members of two barges and two fishermen on a boat have been reported missing in waters off Quezon province southeast of Manila after several days of heavy rains linked to Tropical Storm Sarika, now headed north away from the Philippines.

Rough weather delayed searches until Friday when conditions began to improve.

A 10-year-old boy drowned in Batangas city south of Manila and a woman died on central Romblon Island, the national disaster council said. At least three other people died earlier in floods in the southern Mindanao region. One fisherman drowned Thursday in Subic Bay west of Manila, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority said.

Sarika has been forecast to make landfall Saturday in China's Fujian province as a tropical depression.