Pinoy seamen recount ordeal

WASHINGTON — "Our father in heaven, I beg you please let me live. My three children are too young to be without me. My wife needs me. I need them," Raynaldo Tagle of Nasugbu, Batangas, prayed as he bobbed in the cold Atlantic Ocean clinging to a floating log after his ship sank.

The Greek-owned, Singapore-registered tanker Bow Mariner with a crew of 27 — three Greeks and 24 Filipinos — exploded and sank in the early evening of Feb. 28, off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia, some 240 miles south of Washington, DC.

The survivors were six Filipino crewmen identified as first assistant marine engineer Edmar Aguilar of Alabang, Muntinlupa, electrician James Bactat of Pasay City, chief steward Dominador Marentes of Villaba, Leyte, third marine officer Lugen Ortillano of Tigbauan, Iloilo, able seaman Ramon Ronquillo of Hermosa, Bataan and messman Tagle.

They related the horror of their ordeal to reporters and Philippine embassy officials here on Tuesday.

So far, only three bodies have been recovered, one of them that of Celerino Batugo Pitpit. The other two cannot be identified yet although one is believed to be a Filipino and the other a Greek. Eighteen are missing and presumed dead, including the Greek captain of the vessel.

The Bow Mariner was carrying about 11,000 tons of ethanol to Houston, Texas when the explosion occurred. Ethanol is a water-soluble alcohol with low toxicity and its impact on the marine environment is said to be negligible.

The survivors were accompanied to the embassy on Tuesday by officials representing the ship’s owner, Odfjell, and the operator, Ceres, who cautioned them against speaking too openly because of an ongoing investigation.

Given the possibility of criminal charges in such cases, the surviving crew members have hired lawyers to protect their interests and four of them are exercising their right to remain silent under US law.

Knut Dybvik, Odfjell’s vice president for US operations, said the company has offered to fly in the wives and children of the survivors if they so desire in case the investigation drags on.

He said the company is also considering bringing in family members of the missing crewmen whose bodies cannot be recovered to enable them to achieve some measure of closure.

US coast guard records show the tanker sent out a May Day at 6:10 p.m. on Feb. 28 and rescue units were on the scene at 7:28 p.m.

"If the tragedy happened elsewhere, all six of us would probably have died. We are lucky it happened here in America because the response of the coast guard was fast and efficient," said Dominador Marentes.

Marentes said he and three other survivors were lucky because a life raft was nearby when they jumped into the water. "Within a few minutes we were able to swim to the raft," he said.

Tagle and Bactat were not so lucky. It took a while for the group in the raft to find them by which time they could barely speak.

Officials said another five minutes in the frigid water and Tagle and Bactat would have died.

"The thought of my wife Soledad and my children John Ray, 10, Jeff Ray, 8 and Rea Sol, 4, kept me alive. And of course there was God," Tagle said.

Bactat said he couldn’t remember much of the tragedy. "I know I prayed in the water, but everything else is a blur," he added.

A spokesman for Ceres commended the coast guard for their bravery and their prompt and professional response to tragedy. "We are saddened by the loss of life, but it would have been much worse had the six survivors not been saved by the bravery of the coast guard," he added.

The survivors looked none the worse for wear at the embassy meeting to celebrate their rescue.

But it was obvious they had suffered some great tragedy. None smiled, they talked in monosyllables and a few still looked dazed.

It was only when talking one on one with reporters that they managed to slightly drop their guard.

The National Association of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA), on receiving news of the tragedy, mobilized its members to provide the immediate needs of the six survivors such as clothes, phone cards to call their families in the Philippines, shoes, comfortable lodging, food and pocket money.

Jose Brillantes, undersecretary for overseas workers and migrant affairs at the Department of Foreign Affairs, met with the survivors over the weekend and offered them all possible help.

Brillantes, who is on a visit to Washington, said this tragedy hit close to home because there are about 220,000 Filipino seamen all over the world.