ILOILO City – The remains of an Ilonggo ship cadet who died in a fire that struck his cargo vessel at the Arabian Sea in March this year have been repatriated from India.
According to Janet Genovatin of Barangay Cagbang, Oton, Iloilo, the remains of her son Janrey, 21, were flown to Manila last night.
Janrey’s was one of the three charred human remains recovered from the ill-fated Maersk Honam cargo ship. Genovatin said her DNA matched with the DNA from one of the three human remains.
Before the remains are transported to Iloilo, however, another DNA test would be conducted. Genovatin said she requested a confirmatory test and an autopsy.
Marie Cooper, a representative of Danish Maersk Line, the world’s biggest container shipping company and operator of the Maersk Honam, was in the Philippines on May 31 and informed the Genovatin family about the result of the first DNA test.
Days after Maersk Honam caught fire, Maersk Line announced that human remains of three of the four missing crew members have been found on board the vessel though these remained unidentified.
Aside from Janrey, there was one other Ilonggo ship cadet reported missing in the fire – 21-year-old John Rey Begaso of Barangay Balabago, Jaro, Iloilo City. But according to Leila Begaso, neither of the DNA samples from the three human remains matched the DNA samples she submitted, thus she remains hopeful that her son survived the ship fire.
The Arabian Sea is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by north-eastern Somalia and the Arabian Peninsula, and on the east by India.
Maersk Honam caught fire off Agatti Isles in Lakshwadeep Islands near India.
Search and rescue operation began immediately after Maersk Honam sent out a distress signal, according to Maersk Line. Several container vessels diverted their route to assist in the search and rescue operation.
Another Ilonggo onboard Maersk Honam, 21-year-old engine cadet Carl Vincent Chan, was injured but luckily rescued./PN
