Coast Guard Sub-station Roxas is still searching for a mentally-illed passenger who jumped overboard M/V Starlite Navigator while said vessel was transiting at vicinity waters of Buyalao Point last December 17, 2015 at 7:35pm.

Initial inquiry to the master of the vessel disclosed that the passenger/cargo vessel was underway bound to Roxas Port, Oriental Mindoro from Caticlan Jetty Port, Malay, Aklan when the chief officer reported to him that one of their passengers jumped into the water on the starboard quarter.

Immediately, the master, Captain Eric Cuevas ordered his crew to maneuver his course and conducted search and rescue operations to the victim but yielded negative result. 

He then made an urgent broadcast call thru VHF radio which was acknowledged by nearby vessels transiting also in the area. M/V Maria Ursula and foreign vessel M/T Petrocara augmented with the SAR operations.

After more than two hours of scouring the incidents site, said SAR operations was terminated with negative result. The master of the vessels decided to continue their respective voyage due to inclement weather prevailing in the area.

At 8pm, Captain Cuevas reported the incident to Coast Guard Sub-stations Caticlan and Roxas and requested for necessary search and rescue assistance.

A certain Mr. Christopher Villamor identified the victim as Mr. Jefferson Alimasag, 26 years old and a resident of Carcar, Cebu City. Alimasag was said to be suffering a serious depression due to family problems. He was last seen wearing a blue t-shirt and black pants.

The Coast Guard has issued a Notice to Mariners to all vessels transiting in the area of incident to be on the look-out for the said missing passenger. Coastal residents and local fishermen were also advised to report to the nearest PCG units in case the victim is sighted.