Another Pinoy sailor dies in sea mishap

MANILA, Philippines - Another Filipino seaman onboard the Panamanian cargo ship Dany F II that sunk off Lebanon has been confirmed dead, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

Reporting to the DFA, Philippine embassy charges d’affaires in Damascus Marlowe Mirand said the remains of Manuel Calaor was found in Lattakia, a town 375 kilometers from Damascus in Syria.

Calaor‘s family has been notified of his death by the manning agency.

The DFA is coordinating with the manning agency for the transport of Calaor’s remains, and the repatriation of all the Filipino survivors.

Efforts to find the remaining six missing Filipino seafarers – Leonardo Tiongson, Fuller Edgar, Manuel Bordas Jr., Benedicto Cruz, Enrico Librada, and Vilter Amit – are being undertaken, according to the DFA.

Earlier, the DFA identified a Filipino casualty from the sunken Panamanian ship as 3rd Engineer Alex Crisostomo.

The Dany F II was on its way from Montevideo in Uruguay to the Syrian port of Tartus with thousands of sheep and cattle when it was hit by a storm Thursday night and changed its course for Lebanon. – Pia Lee-Brago