Hopes of survival dim for families of passengers

AS the days wore on, any hopes of finding survivors have dimmed for the families of the missing passengers of the MV St. Thomas Aquinas yesterday.

Couple Eduardo and Mercedita Cañas of Surigao City slept on passenger terminal seats of 2GO to wait for news of their eldest daughter Diomedeza, who remains missing.

Her brother Larry was a survivor while the remains of brother Reynaldo were found yesterday and will be brought to his family in Manila for burial.

The Cañas couple arrived in Cebu City last Saturday after they were told by Larry through phone that Diomedeza and Reynaldo were missing.

The death toll in the collision between the MV St. Thomas Aquinas owned by 2GO and MV Sulpicio Express Siete owned by Philippine Span Carrier Asia off Lawis Ledge in Talisay City rose to 56.

Larry, Diomedeza and Reynaldo Cañas came from Surigao City to attend the burial of a relative.

The elderly Cañas couple said they are worried that they may not find their daughter’s remains from among the corpses that were taken to Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes.

Survivors list

They said the only identifying mark they can think of is Diomedeza’s post-caesarian operation scar she incurred last April.  “I don’t care about the services from 2GO, as long as my daughter will be found,” Mercedita said in Cebuano.

Her husband Eduardo has been poring over  the list of names of survivors posted on the bulletin board outside the terminal.

“I’m always filled with anxiety and nervousness. I am hoping that she is still alive,” Mercedita said.

The couple said they are relieved by the support of Diomedeza’s classmates in Cebu City.

A young mother thought that her two-year old daughter survived because her name was in the survivor’s list.

But 22-year-old Emmalyn Sinday of Dapa, Surigao del Norte said she couldn’t find Gwen in all the hospitals she visited in Cebu City and Talisay City.

Left behind

At the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes,  she broke down in tears when she recognized Gwen clad in a pink dress and shoes.

Sinday, her aunt Violeta Argente and cousin Joenel survived the accident.

Sinday said she plans to return to Surigao del Norte and wait for her husband. She said she couldn’t contact her husband because she lost her cell phone at sea.

Other survivors include 43-year-old Vilma Maligro whose husband Hilario, a barangay chairman of San Juan, Bayugan City, Agusan del Sur, failed to make it.

Her eight-year-old son Christian Mark and mother Agatona Lafuente remain missing.

Another survivor,  Ana Marie Escolana, said 2Go management had  promised to  pay for her plane tickets to Manila, where she will take an exam for her application to become a domestic worker in Kuwait. /Christine Emily L. Pantaleon and Jhunnex Napallacan, Correspondents