ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews / 5 March) — Forty days after a commercial vessel sank in the waters off Hadji Muhtamad, Basilan, authorities have finally confirmed the identity of the ship captain.

The Regional Forensic Unit of the Police Regional Office-9 disclosed during a meeting with the families of missing passengers and crew on Thursday that tissue samples taken from “Cadaver 004” and the biological son of ship captain Sonie Secuban showed 99.99% match.

Another test was also done with Secuban’s brother, which also yielded positive results.

Secuban’s remains were among those recovered by the Philippine Coast Guard’s Technical Divers Group, but had remained in cold storage for almost a month as he was difficult to identify due to its advanced state of decomposition.

Elmeir Apolinario, head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office, said Secuban’s remains were immediately buried as soon as the DNA test results were released.

To date, 293 survived the tragedy, while 65 perished. Six of the fatalities remain unidentified.

Thirteen passengers and crew are still missing based on the authorities’ official list. However, the families of the missing victims submitted their own list, which shows 28 individuals remain unaccounted for.

Zamboanga City Mayor Khymer Olaso ordered the CDRRMO to work with the PNP-SOCO, Aleson Shipping Lines and the families “to consolidate and validate the said list.”

“We also want to make sure that those who claim that they have a missing relative were really on board the ship,” the mayor said. He shared that some individuals allegedly took advantage of the financial assistance given by the LGU and other agencies to victim-survivors, as well as to families claiming to have missing relatives.

Meanwhile, the city government is set to write the Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine Navy to request for the continuation of diving operations.

This came after the families appealed to the LGU to intervene and help them in requesting the PCG and Navy, to search the vessel once again and ensure that all parts of it are thoroughly inspected.

Dan Pioquinto, brother of MV Trisha Kerstin-3’s second engineer JD Kent, asked the PCG to check the engine room.

“Duty mi hermano 8 p.m. hasta 12 media noche. Tiene ya habla canamon uban de suyu que talla ele na engine room (My brother was on duty from 8pm-12 midnight.  We were told by some of the crew who survived that my brother was in the engine room),” Pioquinto said.

Shai-rah Asibun is also looking for her 58-year-old mother-in-law.

“Nasa first deck sila sa economy. Pero nung tumagilid na ang barko, may nakakita sa kanya na pumasok sa may aircon,”  Shai-rah appealed to the PCG, to move debris around as the victims might have been trapped under heavy cargoes.

The PCG’s Technical Divers ended their dive operations after 27 days of high-risk underwater search. The operation inside the sunken vessel resulted to the recovery of 22 bodies.

Officers from the PCG and Western Mindanao Naval Command were present during the meeting at City Hall. They said they are ready to act as soon as their higher headquarters command them to do so. (Queenie Casimiro / MindaNews)