Memorial held for British skipper and 2 Filipinos who died at sea in UK

Boat sinking survivors Nixon Ocon and Romulo Roche with Apostle of the Sea’s Paul Atkinson. AoS PHOTO

DALY CITY, California–The two Filipino seamen who survived the sinking of the trawler Ocean Way attended a memorial service for their three lost crewmates on November 14 in Fraserburgh, UK.

The trawler, helmed by James Noble, 45, of Fraserbugh, sank on November 2 off the coast of the Farne Islands. Noble and two Filipinos – 34-year-old Jhunitzquo Antonio and 38-year-old Michael Pulpul – died.

The survivors, Romulo Roche, 28, and Nixon Ocon, 38, fought back tears in the town’s Old Parish Church to pay tribute to the three men they described as being like family to them, reported the PressandJournal.co.uk. https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/north-east/fraserburgh/402146/survivors-attend-memorial-service-for-ocean-way-crew/ .

“James was a gentleman. Michael was like a brother,” Roche said after the service. “It was like a family. Me, Michael and Jhunitzquo we stayed for a long time – 10 months we stayed together. Every day that we woke up, we saw the same faces. We loved each other.”

Ocon added: “We always worked together with a smile. The loss – we can never get it back again.”

More than 100 people had attended the service at the church, including friends, family and co-workers, as well as dozens of members from the local Filipino community who performed a traditional mourning song, according to the PressandJournal.

RELATED STORY

Trawler lost in North Sea — skipper dead, 2 Filipinos presumed dead