A Negrense boatman whose pumpboat sunk 2 kilometers off Lakawon Island in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental, on Tuesday evening floated at sea amid stormy weather for a day and a half and was found alive in Cebu waters on Thursday, July 27.
Jolly “Pating” Villarosa Beating, 35, a Lakawon boatman, was found alive in the waters near a small island that is part of Madridejos, Cebu, between Bantayan and Masbate, Nic Ledesma, a relative of his employer, said.
Ledesma said before Beating’s boat sunk he was able to call his sister on his cellular phone and she advised him to put on his life vest.
Since it was dark and the seas were rough, there was no way he could be rescued until the morning, Ledesma said.
The Bantay Dagat and Coast Guard personnel searching for Beating had problems navigating the rough seas on Wednesday.
“He floated for a day and a half and the ‘habagat’ winds brought him to the farthest end of Bantayan, Cebu, where he was rescued by fishermen,” Ledesma said.
Beating suffered slight bruises. His family will pick him up via Vito, Bantayan, Ledesma said.
His sister Jocelyn Beating who had appealed on Facebook for help in the search for her brother also announced on Thursday that he had been found.
“God is good,” she said.*