Most of the 23 missing people due to floods caused by the shear line affecting Bicol, Visayas and Mindanao were fishermen, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) said Tuesday.

In a “Laging Handa” briefing, Diego Agustin Mariano, head of the OCD Joint Information Center, said: “Most of the missing individuals are fishermen."

“The search and rescue operations are ongoing, particularly in the coastal area. The Philippine Coast Guard will continue search and rescue operations for the missing persons, especially if the weather condition improves,” he added.

Mariano did not say what provinces the missing fishermen came from and if a gale warning was raised when the fishermen set sail.

Of the 23 missing, 12 are in Eastern Visayas, eight are in Bicol Region and three are in Northern Mindanao.

In its 5 am situation report, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council that 11 of the 13 fatalities are still up for validation.

Mariano said they lack documents for the recovered cadavers.

“As of now, we have 13 fatalities…most of them are for validation. That means they just lack documents, like a police report. But those 13 have a body count, we got their cadavers. They are only for validation because they do not have documents,” Mariano said. Jaspearl Tan/DMS