3 Pinoys, 2 Chinese sailors die as South Korean boat sinks

SEOUL – Three Filipino and two Chinese sailors died Thursday when a South Korean coast guard boat capsized after rescuing them from a sinking cargo ship, officials and reports said.

Administrator Carmelita Dimzon of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) identified the three Filipino fatalities as Henry Morada, Blert Hautea and Jayson Sazon.

“(South) Korean authorities confirmed the death and identities of the three Filipino seafarers,” she said.

The three were among six Filipino crewmembers of the Malaysian cargo ship that sank last Thursday, she added.

The three other Filipinos who survived were identified Christopher Malpaya, Christopher Lapitan, and Gerald Espina.

They are now under the care of the Korean Coast Guard awaiting repatriation to the Philippines.

The Filipino seamen were OWWA members so they are entitled to all benefits, including death and burial, Dimzon added.

The boat overturned while carrying 15 crew members rescued from the 5,436-ton Malaysia-registered Shinline freighter near the southern island of Jeju, a coastguard spokesman said.

All the coast guard officers and 10 of the freighter’s crew were rescued unhurt by another coast guard vessel involved in the operation, but five perished in the incident, the spokesman said.

The Malaysian freighter, with a total of 13 Chinese and six Filipino crew members, radioed for help after the ship – en route to Singapore – started taking in water.

“Of two coast guard boats involved in the operation, one overturned because of high waves,” the spokesman said, adding that the rescued sailors and coast guard officers were taken to a hospital in Jeju.

Yonhap news agency quoted Jeju coast guard chief Cho Joon-eo as saying: “The conditions were extremely bad and the freighter could have gone underwater at any moment. We had no other choice but to try to rescue as many sailors as we could.”