Ma and child missing in Negros sea mishap

BACOLOD CITY — Rescuers were still in frantic search yesterday for two missing passengers of a motorboat which sank off E.B. Magalona town, 23.91 kilometers north of this city, Wednesday morning.

Police believe that the two passengers, identified as Editha Villarmia, 59, and her daughter Cherry Belle, 17, of Toboso, Negros Occidental, could have been trapped when the ill-fated M/V Ivan Blue capsized.

The 46 other passengers survived the sea mishap. Among them were Chief Inspector Inocentes Capuno, deputy director of the 6th Regional Mobile Group, and his three children, namely, John Yves, Michelle Mae and Sheena.

Police probers have yet to determine how many people were actually on board the motorboat which was on its way from Banate town in Iloilo to Barangay Tuburan in E.B. Magalona town when it met the tragedy.

Radio reports said there were 48 people on board, including the skipper, Joseph Yao, and five crew members.

Capuno said the vessel was battered by huge waves, causing it to sink. He, however, was able to seek help via his cell phone before water engulfed the boat.

He said the boat submerged at about 11 a.m., an hour and a half after they left Banate.

He said he and his children stayed afloat in the cold waters, clinging to floating debris for two hours, until fishermen rescued them.

Some of the rescued passengers were brought to the Jose Locsin Memorial Hospital in Silay City and the E.B. Magalona rural health center.

Senior Inspector Paterno Torralba, E.B. Magalona police chief, said a certain Lorda Ignacio owned the motorboat.

Meanwhile, the Coast Guard reported two other sea mishaps elsewhere in the country.

At about 3 a.m. on Christmas Day, the MBCA Leoman capsized off Bislig Island in General Santos City.

The following day, at 5 a.m., another motorized banca, the MBCA James Niños Arnold, sank in the waters off Bulusan, Sorsogon.

The Coast Guard said all passengers and crew members of the two boats were rescued. — With Nestor Etolle