CORALS that grow in abundance in the shallow waters close to Rozul (Iroquios) Reef in the West Philippine Sea have disappeared, apparently due to massive harvesting, a military official said on Saturday.

Vice Admiral Albert Carlos, who heads the Western Command (WesCom) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), said in a news forum on Saturday that this was what their divers discovered after surveying the Rozul Reef, where Chinese maritime militia vessels had been monitored by Philippine military air assets to be 'swarming' on September 6 and 7.