Family of Pinoy on Air France flight still hope for a miracle

SAN MIGUEL, Bulacan, Philippines – The family of the Filipino seaman on board the ill-fated Air France Flight 447 from Brazil to France are hoping against all odds that their relative is still alive after the plane disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean last May 31.

“I still believe that he is alive,” said Miguela Jugueta, 41, wife of Arden Jugueta, the lone Filipino passenger of flight 447 that went missing hours after it took off from Rio de Janeiro.

Arden, 41, worked as a mechanic of Elburge Ship Management, an Italian shipping firm based in Brazil. He has worked as a seaman for the past 18 years.

Miguela told The STAR that she and Arden talked and saw each other via Internet videophone in Rio de Janeiro, several minutes before her husband boarded the Air France jet last Sunday.

“Bago siya sumakay, sabi niya ay ite-text na lang niya ako pagdating niya sa (Before he boarded he said he would text me when he got to) Paris after 13 hours,” Miguela said in an interview at their house in Barangay Buliran here.

But hours after her conversation with Jugueta, Miguela received a call from an official of her husband’s company informing her that flight 447 went missing while crossing the Atlantic.

“Sabi nila ay baka na-hijack o nadaan sa thunderstorm yung eroplano at batay sa report sa Internet ay nakita na yung mga debris sa dagat na may 3,000 meters ang lalim (They say it might have been hijacked or flew into a thunderstorm and debris have already been seen on the 3,000-meter deep sea),” she said.

Miguela said she was a bit disappointed with what happened, but she and the rest of her family are still hoping.

She said she feels that her husband survived the crash and trusts on his instincts as well as his swimming skills.

“Seaman siya, mahusay siyang lumangoy (He’s a seaman and a good swimmer),” she said, but also prayed that if her husband really died, they want his body recovered so the family could give him a decent burial in Bulacan.

Arden’s older siblings – Jalandoni, 53 and Criselda Jugueta-Concepcion – echoed the same sentiments.

“Hindi ko iniisip na patay na siya, malaki ang tiwala ko kay Arden, survivor siya (I don’t think he’s dead, I have confidence in Arden, he’s a survivor),” said Jalandoni, the eldest of Jugueta’s six siblings.

Jalandoni said the Jugueta family came all the way from Mauban, Quezon, to comfort Miguela and her three children in Bulacan.

Seaman planned a family reunion

Jugueta was on his way home because he had planned a family reunion in time for the birthday celebrations of his mother, son, and a nephew today, June 5.

He also planned to extend his regular vacation until after he celebrated his 42nd birthday on July 9, since he was able to celebrate his birthday with his family in the country only three times in the last 18 years.

But despite the accident, the family will push through with the reunion, but not as Arden had planned.

They called on their families and friends to pray for Arden.

Aleli, 17, the eldest daughter of Jugueta, said they hope their father will still come home.

Jugueta’s family was supposed to pick him up at the airport last Tuesday.

Published wire reports on the Internet the other day said that the missing Air France jet carrying 228 people from Rio de Janeiro to Paris ran into lightning and strong thunderstorms over the Atlantic Ocean.

The Brazilian Air Force immediately conducted a search mission off its northeastern coast and found debris and an oil slick in the open ocean on the path of flight 447.

Reports quoted chief Air France spokesman Francois Brousse as saying it is possible the plane was hit by lightning.

Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330, left Rio on Sunday at 7 p.m. local time (2200 GMT, 6 p.m. EDT) with 216 passengers and 12 crew members on board, wire reports said.

About four hours later, the plane sent an automatic signal indicating electrical problems while going through strong turbulence.