Filipino sailor rescued, 7 others still missing

A Filipino crew member of an empty cargo vessel that capsized off southern Japan on Monday was rescued and unhurt, Japan’s Coast Guard said yesterday.

Nilo Macafling, chief engineer of the ill-fated Philippine-registered Mahlia, was found on a lifeboat about 110 kilometers east of Amamioshima island.

Japanese patrol boats were searching for the ship’s seven other Filipino crewmen who, Macafling said, were all wearing life jackets.

Coast Guard spokesman Toshiaki Uegomori said that the ship left Hiroshima prefecture on Friday and was headed to Batangas port when it sank south of Japan’s southernmost main island of Kyushu.

Meanwhile, the 14 Filipino crewmen — 12 survivors and two deceased — of the Panamanian ship M/V Pendola, which sank off the coast of North Daito Island in Okinawa, Japan on Friday arrived in two separate flights at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) yesterday.

The 12 survivors arrived on board China Airlines flight CI-631, while the two deceased were on board Japan Airlines flight JAL-745.

Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Araw Shipping Agency Inc., the local agent of the seamen, said they will be giving financial assistance to the victims and their families.

OWWA chief Virgilio Angelo said the families of the deceased — second mate Rogelio Nofre and O/S James Sampayan — will receive P70,000 in the form of insurance coverage and scholarship grants to their beneficiaries, among other benefits.

Sampayan’s remains were immediately flown to his home town in Cagayan de Oro City.

Aside from Nofre and Sampayan, two South Korean seafarers perished in the accident. – Sandy Araneta, Mayen Jaymalin