10 Ilonggo seafarers among missing in Japan sea mishap

Ten Ilonggo seafarers are among the missing crew of a ship carrying thousands of cows from New Zealand which capsized near Japan’s coastline last week.

Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Region 6 (OWWA 6) Director Rizza Joy Moldes confirmed in a radio interview on Saturday that ten of the missing crew members are residents of Western Visayas.

Eight of the crew members are from Iloilo Province particularly from Guimbal, Oton, Tubungan, and Sta. Barbara while one is from Iloilo City and another one is from Bacolod City.
According to Moldes, they are still verifying the names of the Filipino crew as most of their addresses in the database indicated that they are from National Capital Region (NCR).

“Posibe madugangan pa ang numero sang taga-Region 6 kay ginaverify pa namon ang mga pangalan kag address nila. Subong naga-coordinate kami sa ila pamilya,” she said.

Meanwhile, the wife of one of the missing Ilonggo seafarers from Oton town in Iloilo province is still hoping that her husband will be rescued safely including all the other missing crew members.

In a radio interview, “Inday” (not her real name) said her husband was able to contact his 10-year-old child through a videocall last Sept 1.

Inday last spoke to her husband on August 31 where his husband told her that he will come home soon as he was excited to see their four-month-old baby.

Inday’s husband who has been working as a seafarer for 19 years already was scheduled to return home in August but was disallowed by the company. He was supposedly re-scheduled to return this coming October.

The seafarer was to mark his birthday today, September 7.

Gulf Livestock 1 was believed to have 43 crew members, including 39 Filipinos and was carrying almost 6,000 cows from New Zealand when the ship went missing alongside its crew after sending a distress signal last Wednesday.
It was nearly 24 hours before Japanese coast guard found and rescued the first survivor, Sareno Edvardo who is a Filipino crew member of the ship.

On Friday, the Japan’s coast guard rescued a second survivor, Jay-nel Rosals, a Filipino deckhand.

Earlier on Friday, an unconscious crew member was also recovered and was taken to a hospital but was later pronounced dead. (ERS)