Search, rescue ops for missing seafarers off Japan still on — DOLE

In this photo released by the 10th Regional Japan Coast Guard Headquarters, a Filipino crewmember of a Panamanian cargo ship is rescued by Japanese Coast Guard members in the waters off the Amami Oshima, Japan Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020. Japanese rescuers have safely plucked the crewmember from the sea while searching for the cargo ship carrying more than 40 crew and thousands of cows went missing after sending a distress call off the southern Japanese island. (The 10th Regional Japan Coast Guard Headquarters via AP)

MANILA, Philippines — Search and rescue operations for the missing crew members of a cattle ship that sank off Japan last week are still ongoing, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III clarified Thursday.

In an interview on ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo, Bello said that only the “special operation” in search of the missing crewmen was suspended by Japanese authorities.

“‘Yung paghinto, hindi nangangahulugan na wala nang rescue operation. Hindi nga lang ‘yung kagaya noong special operation na finield ang dalawang aircraft, apat na patrol boat, at divers from Japanese Coast Guard. Pero tuloy pa rin ang standard rescue operation,” he said.

(The rescue operation was not totally stopped. It was not just like the special operation they did before where two aircrafts, four patrol boats, and divers from Japanese Coast Guard were deployed. But the standard rescue operation continues.)

“Hindi pa humihinto, ‘yun na nga lang, hindi kagaya ng ginawa nila ng three days na talagang full rescue operation,” Bello added.

(It was not stopped. It is just not like the full rescue operation they did for three days.)

The Gulf Livestock 1, which went missing and reported to have capsized last September 3 in the East China Sea on its way to China from New Zealand due to Typhoon Maysak, carried 43 crew members — 39 from the Philippines, two from New Zealand and two from Australia.

Bello said Japanese authorities have so far rescued three Filipinos, including one who later died while being treated at a hospital.

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