Prayers asked for safety of 39 Filipino seafarers in Japan

Prayers asked for safety of 39 Filipino seafarers in Japan
Leslie Ann Aquino September 3, 2020 https://seafarertimes.com/2020-21/node/4740#overlay=node/add/article

A Catholic prelate on Thursday asked the faithful to pray for the safety of the 39 Filipino crew members onboard a missing cargo vessel in Japan.

“We have to pray more and hope for the best of our 39 Filipino seafarers,” Balanga Bishop Ruperto Santos said in a statement.

“We implore our almighty God to give us miracles that they will be spared and eventually saved. We must turn to
God and trust Him all the more,” he added.

The vice chairman of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines Episcopal Commission on Migrants and Itinerant People said all must work together, do what is necessary to rescue them and help them.

Santos said the Apostleship of the seas Stella Maris Philippines already appealed to chaplains to pray and offer holy masses for the welfare of the seafarers, that all be safe.

The Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Osaka reported to the Department of Labor and Employment that a Panamanian-flagged cargo vessel made a distress call on September 2 from Amami Oshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture.

It said the freighter is ‘Gulf Livestock 1’ and is estimated that 43 crew including 39 Filipinos, 2 New Zealanders, 1 Australian and 1 Singaporean, are on board.

POLO Osaka added that the freighter was heading to the port of Tangshan in China.

It also reported that one Filipino crew member was found adrift at sea but alive.

“The Japanese Coast Guard continues to search for other missing crew using 4 rescue patrol boats, 2 airplanes and divers from the Haneda Airbase Special Rescue Team,” said POLO Osaka in a statement.