ILOILO City – The Filipino seafarer declared missing after their bulk cargo carrier MV Tutor was bombed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the Red Sea on June 12 was an Antiqueño. Finding him a week after the attack is now a race against time but his family remains hopeful he would be found alive and well.
Nixon Asejo, a 54-year-old married man with three children, was originally from Barangay Diclum, Tobias Fornier, Antique but moved to Metro Manila for college and later married there.
According to his elder sister Melinda Asejo Ting, neither she nor their family has received any indications suggesting that her younger brother might have died.
Nixon was part of a 22-member crew aboard the vessel during the attack, where 21 other Filipino crew members survived, leaving him as the sole person missing.
Ting recounted discussions with her brother’s Filipino seafaring colleagues that on June 12, their chief engineer and higher officials decided to relax as there were no operations planned. However, Nixon requested permission to check something in the ship’s engine room below. He was accompanied by two other crew members.
“He felt something fall from above, so he asked his two assistants, the third mate and the oiler, to go up and check. The missile struck the ship just as they reached the upper deck, leaving him below,” said Ting during an interview with DYRI RMN Iloilo on June 19.
M/V Tutor was a Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned ship. According to the United States government that has a Navy ship patrolling the Red Sea and rescued the crew of the beleaguered bulk cargo carrier, the missing Filipino sailor was deemed to have died in the attack.
The Philippine government’s Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), however, is reluctant to declare such and remains hopeful.
Ting believes her brother is alive based on testimonies from other Filipino crew members that only one fourth of the ship initially got flooded after the bomb attack.
Following the incident, Ting said their family was immediately contacted by Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac of DMW to assure that the national government would do everything possible to find and rescue Asejo.
Ting said they have also discussed with the management of the manning company the next steps for the operation or rescue.
“Secretary Hans called us yesterday, and that’s what we discussed, and he explained that people have already been sent there,” said Ting.
In a statement on Tuesday, the DMW said it remains hopeful.
“The Philippine Embassy in Athens under Ambassador Giovanni Palec met with MV Tutor’s shipping principal, who informed Ambassador Palec that search operations for our missing seafarer shall be undertaken as soon as the ship is taken to a safe port,” it said.
A day earlier, Cacdac said: “We have to be precise about this. He is missing, he has not been found, and he has to be searched before we can make conclusions kung ano ang nangyari sa kanya. He has to be found, searched and found,” he said.
The 21 other Filipino seafarers who were rescued by US naval forces arrived in Manila on June 17.
During a press briefing at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, ship captain Christian Domarique said their vessel was approached by a boat carrying bombs and two dummies before the attack.
They did not fire on it because, from a distance, it seemed like a fishing boat with two people on board, he added.
The boat, however, triggered a powerful explosion that damaged the bulk carrier as it was sailing in the “war-like zone” in the Red Sea, near the Yemeni port of Hodeidah.Top of FormBottom of Form
The explosion was then followed by a drone missile attack, causing severe flooding and damage to the MV Tutor’s engine room, where Asejo was.
During the initial rescue operation by US naval forces, however, nobody was found in the engine room.
At a news briefing in the White House, US White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said the attack killed “a crew member who hailed from the Philippines.”
The vessel had just completed a port call in Russia and was bound for Egypt.
“The Houthis killed an innocent crew member from the Philippines and critically wounded a Sri Lankan sailor who were guilty of no crimes, who were simply doing their jobs,” said Kirby.
“They weren’t delivering arms to Israel, they weren’t taking sides in the Middle East. They were just manning their posts aboard a ship trying to earn a paycheck and keep global commerce moving,” he added.
“This is pure terrorism. There’s simply no other word for it. The Houthi claim of supporting Gazans is meritless,” Kirby told reporters. (With a report from the Philippine Daily Inquirer)/PN
