‘I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES’

Mother of cadet in fire-hit ship not losing hope

Smoke billows from cargo vessel Maersk Honam that fire struck on March 6, 2018 at the Arabian Sea while on its way to the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal. PHOTO FROM MARITIMETRAFFIC.COM

ILOILO City – The family of an Ilonggo ship cadet who was presumed to have died when fire struck their cargo vessel in the Arabian Sea on March 6 this year remains hopeful he is alive.

According to Leila Begaso of Barangay Balabago, Jaro district here, results of the DNA tests conducted on three human remains recovered from the ill-fated Maersk Honam ship were “negative.”

Begaso is the mother of 21-year-old ship cadet John Rey Begaso who was presumed to be one of the three human remains recovered.

But neither of the DNA samples from the three human remains matched the DNA samples submitted by the family, Begaso revealed, citing the information she received from the company that owns Maersk Honam.

In her May 31 Facebook post, Begaso was hopeful her son survived the fire. “I believe in miracles,” she wrote.

John Rey Begaso

“This end of May, Maersk gave us the latest update. The result of the DNA (test) is negative. I claim 100 percent you’re still alive,” read part of the post.

Days after the ship fire, Danish Maersk Line, the world’s biggest container shipping company and operator of the Maersk Honam, announced that human remains of three of the four missing crew members have been found on board the vessel though these remained unidentified.

“Given the time passed and the severe fire damages of the vessel we must conclude by now that we have lost all four colleagues,” Maersk Line stated in its website.

Aside from John Rey Begaso, there was one other Ilonggo ship cadet reported missing in the fire – 21-year-old Janrey Genovatin of Barangay Cagbang, Oton, Iloilo.

“Wherever you are, we’re waiting that one day you’re going home,” Begaso’s mother posted on Facebook.

Begaso and Genovatin were engine cadets from John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University.

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 had 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

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