MANILA, Philippines — The identity of the first fatality among the crew members of a missing cargo vessel in Japan has been confirmed, the Department of Foreign Affairs reported Monday night.
"A verification of the remains of the unidentified person found on 04 September 2020 has been made. The deceased was confirmed to be of Filipino nationality," DFA's bulletin read.
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The agency added that the family of the deceased cooperated in identifying the remains.
So far, two survivors, both of whom are Filipino, have been found by the Japanese coast guard.
The vessel’s chief officer, identified in reports as 45-year old Filipino Edwardo Sareno, was the first to have been rescued by authorities who responded to the distress call.
On Friday, the DFA also confirmed that a second Filipino crew member was found alive in a life raft from the sunken ship.
The Department of Labor and Employment identified him as Jay-Nel Rosales, 30, a deck crew and a native of Cebu.
The DFA on Saturday said that both survivors have been in touch with their families.
The agency earlier confirmed that a Panamanian-flagged cargo vessel made a distress call two days earlier from Amami Oshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture.
It also confirmed that the vessel was carrying 43 crew members, 39 of whom were Filipino.
A report from Agence France-Presse identified the remaining four crew members as two New Zealanders, an Australian and a Singaporean.
Ongoing search operations
"The [DFA], through the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo and the Philippine Consulate General in Osaka, reports that the Japanese Coast Guard did not find any survivor or remains in today’s search. An empty life raft on a sandy beach was found but there was no clue of any missing crew member," the department's latest update reads.
The Japanese coast guard temporarily suspended its search operations over the weekend in light of the expected arrival of a typhoon.
According to the DFA, aerial search operations resumed on Monday.
"As the area is still pounded by gusty winds, search by patrol boat is not possible at this time," the department said on Monday afternoon.
It added that the Japanese coast guard has confirmed that it will "will resume the full sea and aerial search" on Wednesday.
"The Philippine government remains steadfast in providing full support to our Filipino seafarers and their families as our foreign service posts and [Philippine Overseas Labor and Office] in Japan continue to monitor and coordinate the situation with the Japanese authorities," DFA said.
Noting that the DFA is the authorized government agency to comment on the matter, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said it is also monitoring the situation and coordinating with its Japanese counterpart.
"As of now, what they (Japan Coast Guard) are doing is to alert other countries near them that can possibly help in the search and rescue operations," PCG spokesperson Commodore Armand Balilo told reporters.
Balilo added that this was the protocol and pointed out that the Japanese Coast Guard has one of the most highly advanced search and rescue units in the world.— with a report from The STAR