CEBU CITY — Camille Lou Castillo Libron’s family is pinning its hopes on a miracle that the Filipino flight attendant survived Tuesday’s crash of a Yemenia Airways jet into the Indian Ocean.
“Although the chances are slim, we cannot help but hope (for a miracle),” her elder brother Camilus said in a telephone interview on Thursday.
The airline has confirmed that Camille Lou was among the 11 crew members and 153 passengers of Flight 626 that plunged into the Indian Ocean en route to the Comoros Islands due to bad weather. The plane was flying from Paris and made a stopover in the Yemeni capital San’a.
Only a 12-year-old girl survived.
Little information
Camilus, 29, the eldest of three siblings, said the family was still waiting for more information from the management of Yemenia Airways, which hardly gave details on the fate of Camille Lou, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa).
While he admitted that his 26-year-old sister might be gone since no bodies had been recovered over the past few days, “we are still hoping she survived because she was the only Filipina (crew) and she was strong-willed.”
The Librons hail from Calatrava town in Negros Occidental, but they now live in a home in San Carlos City, also in the province.
Camille Lou, the youngest in the family, was supposed to be back in the country today, while another brother, Carlo Ben, 28, a seaman, arrived yesterday as scheduled.
Their father, Camilo, a seaman based in Africa, was scheduled to arrive on July 15, but he would be coming home earlier, said Camilus, a dentist now based in Dasmarińas town in Cavite.
No family reunion
Lucy, their mother, a retired dean of commerce at the Colegio de Santa Rita in San Carlos, was in Cavite for Camilus’ birthday on July 6—an occasion for the family to gather anew—when she heard the news about her daughter.
Camilus said he called Camille Lou after a CNN report about the plane crash caught the family’s attention on Tuesday since she had been working with Yemenia Airways for three years.
He was not able to contact his sister so he called the airline, which later in the afternoon confirmed that she was among the crew on board.
Contrary to earlier reports, Camilus said, the company did not confirm if the body of Camille Lou was found.
He urged the government to get information faster to determine if Camille Lou survived and if she did not, to expedite the repatriation of her remains.
Substitute stewardess
In an interview with the Inquirer in Manila, Philippine Ambassador to Riyadh Antonio Villamor said both the Yemeni government and Yemenia Airways had not released any details about the flight manifest.
Villamor said he was getting information from his contacts in San’a.
Camilus recalled his last conversation with Camille Lou on Sunday, when she also talked with their mother over the phone.
She was very excited and was looking forward to her vacation on July 5, he said.
Lucy said she had no premonition of what would occur when she spoke with her daughter.
Camille Lou was supposed to come home on June 22, but this was delayed because she had to go to London to fix her passport, she said.
“Camille was on standby so when the Malaysian stewardess could not make the ill-fated flight, my daughter was called to take her place,” Lucy said.
Cebu studies
According to Teresita Oebanda, the children’s aunt, Camilus took up dentistry in Southwestern University, Carlo Ben completed a maritime course at University of Cebu, and Camille Lou finished interior design at University of San Carlos, all in Cebu City.
Camille Lou first tried her hand at designing a supermarket in Cebu and then worked for a call center in Manila. She also studied to be a stewardess at Flight Wing in Makati City.
No husband, boyfriend
Contrary to an earlier DFA report that a Yemeni husband named Khalid Tamah had reported to the Philippine Embassy in Riyadh about Camille Lou, Camilus said his sister was not married and did not even have a boyfriend.
He said he learned that the man was only her colleague from Yemenia Airways.
The DFA later corrected its statement, saying that Tamah is the husband of one Jana Garcia Tamah and that both are Camille Lou’s coworkers.
Furnished condo for parents
Oebanda said her niece was almost like a daughter to her. She was loving and generous, and even bought her parents a fully furnished condominium on Ortigas Avenue, the aunt said.
Camille Lou was a disciplined person with beauty and brains, she added.
