Acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Rafael E. Seguis today commiserated with the  families of the twenty-four (24) Filipino seamen who crewed the Bow Mariner,  a tanker carrying three and one-half (3.5) million gallons of industrial  ethanol that suffered three (3) explosions and sank eighty (80) kilometers off the Delaware-Maryland- Virginia (Delmarva) coast early  Saturday evening, 27 February 2004.

“I commiserate with our seamen and their respective families undergoing this  terrible ordeal,” Acting Secretary Seguis said.

As of this writing, six (6) of the twenty-four (24) Filipino crew of the Bow  Mariner have been rescued. Eighteen (18) Filipino crew are still missing.

“I have directed Ambassador Albert F. Del Rosario of the Philippine Embassy  in Washington, D.C., U.S.A., to continue assisting the eighteen (18) other  Filipinos involved and liaise with their respective families and sponsors,”  Acting Secretary Seguis added. To this end, First Secretary and Consul Henry  S. Bensurto, Jr., of the Philippine Embassy in Washington was dispatched over  the weekend to drive several hours to render legal and consular assistance to  the Filipino seamen involved.

The 570-foot Bow Mariner, a Singapore-flagged fuel tanker, sank into the 6.7  Centigrade waters off Chincoteague, Virginia, between Chesapeake Bay and the  Atlantic Ocean early Saturday night.

The  U.S.  Coast  Guard  first arrived on the scene after the crew was in the  water for about three (3) hours. The U.S. Coast Guard  has  committed  two (2) cutters,  one (1) helicopter and  one (1) airplane  in   this  search and rescue  (SAR) operation.  As  of  writing,  the  U.S.  Coast  Guard  is conducting  SAR  operations  in a 16-kilometer-by-16-kilometer  area.

The Bow Mariner was traveling from New York, New York, to Houston, Texas. It  was a chemical tanker built in 1982 and operated by the Ceres Hellenic  Shipping Enterprises, Ltd., in Greece. Yesterday, Ceres flew out a technical  crew from Greece to assist the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine Embassy in Washington,  D.C., are acting upon further developments and maintaining contact with the  needs and concerns of the involved Filipino crewmembers being cared for on  the U.S. Eastern seaboard and their respective families in the Philippines.  END.