Hope dims for missing PH sailors

SEOUL—Eleven more bodies were recovered on Wednesday from the area where a South Korean trawler sank in the Bering Sea as hopes dimmed of finding any survivors among 41 crew members still missing.

The 11 comprise seven Indonesians, three South Koreans and a Filipino, the South Korean foreign ministry said in a press statement.

A total of 12 bodies have now been recovered while seven people were rescued, leaving 41 still unaccounted for.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) identified on Wednesday the three Filipinos who survived the sinking of the ship and who at press time were on board two Russian ships that rescued them from the sea.

The three survivors were Rowell Aljecera (on board Zaliv Zabiyaka), Micol Sabay and Teddy Parangue, Jr. (on board Karolina-77), said DFA spokesperson and Assistant Secretary Charles Jose.

He said the three survivors were given proper medical attention in the two Russian ships which were assisting in the search and rescue operations.

Jose declined to name the 10 other Filipino crew members pending notification of their families by the Philippine shipping agent.

The 1,753-ton Oryong 501 trawler, with 60 people on board, went down in rough, icy seas on Monday.

Those on board included 11 South Koreans, 35 Indonesians, 13 Filipino crew members, as well as a Russian fisheries inspector who was among the rescued.

Empty, damaged lifeboats 

The discovery of four empty, damaged lifeboats on Tuesday fueled concerns that the missing crew members were pitched into the freezing waters when the boat sank.

The body of one Korean has been recovered, while the Russian inspector and six foreign crew members were rescued.

Rescuers also saw one dead body floating in the area but were not able to recover it due to storm conditions, according to Oleg Karev of the marine rescue center in the port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

Despite the bad weather, Russian and United States ships are now involved in the search and rescue operations.

A US coast guard plane was already on the scene in the Bering Sea and a US vessel specialized in search and rescue operations was due to arrive early Thursday, a South Korean ministry official told AFP.

They will join five ships that have been searching the area since the trawler went down on Monday.

Jose told a press briefing that Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario has been contacted by his South Korean counterpart that rescue operations continue for the crew of the South Korean fishing vessel.

Jose said a team from the Philippine embassy in Moscow was coordinating with Russian authorities on the rescue operations while the Philippine honorary consul in Vladivostok was instructed to help the Filipino survivors and to monitor the fate of the other missing Filipinos. Christine Avendaño and AFP