Man drowns as Subic authorities chase alleged looters
SUBIC BAY FREEPORT--One of five alleged looters of an underwater shipwreck here drowned early Thursday morning while being pursued by Subic Harbor authorities, a report said.
The suspected thieves were spotted by a harbor patrol at 2:00 a.m. while allegedly looting artifacts from a shipwreck, Colonel Jaime Calunsag, acting head of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Law Enforcement Department, said in a report.
Ricardo Macalalad, 39, jumped off a motorized boat, while Alex Grateja, 34, was arrested by SBMA authorities. Both are residents of Cawag vilage, in Subic town, Zambales province.
Attempts to revive Macalalad failed and he was pronounced dead at 3 a.m.
The three others eluded arrest.
According to Calunsag's report, a copy of which was obtained by INQ7.net, the suspects were found within the vicinity of the USS New York wreck dive site during a routine check to guard against looting.
Subic authorities aboard five patrol boats chased the suspects.
A 20-foot motorized boat and various paraphernalia apparently used for underwater looting operations were later confiscated by authorities.
Subic was a former US military naval base that was converted into a special economic zone after a military basing agreement with the US was ended in 1991.
Anthony Deleon, contributor
posted by jhecs at
10:01 AM
1 Comments:
as per report relayed to us, this man actually died of bends, he was deep underwater when his accomplices hurriedly pulled him up without the benefit of proper decompression. This resulted to rapid expansion of gases in his bloodstreams causing the death. This is what we were saying all along, dive salvaging is a risky business and it being illegal added to the danger these untrained people are going into. Actually the financiers and whoever is buying these loot need to answer for this incident.
By
Anonymous, at 8/12/2005 10:14 AM
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