The families of the 36 Filipino seafarers onboard a missing Panama-registered cargo ship that sank off the coast of Japan last week want the search and rescue operations to still continue, according to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III.
This handout picture taken on September 2, 2020 and provided by 10th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters on September 3, 2020 shows coast guards rescuing a Filipino man off Amami Oshima island, about 120 km northwest of the sea. - Japan's coast guard said on September 2 one person was found during a search for a cargo ship with 43 people on board after receiving a distress call from the East China Sea during a typhoon. (Photo by Handout / 10th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters / AFP) / ---EDITORS NOTE--- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / 10th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS NO ARCHIVES
"They requested that the rescue operation be not stopped," he said in an interview Thursday.
According to Bello, the families told him this when he informed them of the information he received from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Osaka that the Japanese Coastguard already stopped the search and rescue operations of the missing crew members.
On Saturday, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said the government is extending all necessary assistance to the survivors and the families of the missing Filipino crew members of the ill-fated cargo ship.
The Gulf Livestock 1 was carrying cattle and 43 crew members, including 39 Filipino nationals. Three Filipino crewmen were later found, one dead and two survivors.