10 May 2006 — Ambassador Virgilio A. Reyes, Jr. of the Philippine Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa reported to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G. Romulo that the Philippine, Greek and Romanian Embassies in Pretoria have made a joint appeal to the South African Government to continue the search and rescue operations following the sinking of the Greek-owned bulk carrier MV Alexandros T even as the shipowner representative has engaged the services of a private tugboat to continue with its own search and rescue efforts.

Ambassador Reyes said that the three Embassies made the appeal after the South African Maritime Rescue Coordinating Center stated that search and rescue operations would have to be suspended “due to ‘bad light’ and poor weather conditions.”

At the same time, the Ambassador said that Capt. Costas Drivas, the shipowner representative from Greece, and Capt. German Mendez of the Inter-Orient Maritime Enterprises, manning agent representative from Manila, have reported to the Embassy that the contracted tugboat Smith Amandla “is still scouring the vicinitiy of the incident” to look for survivors of the mishap.

Ambassador Reyes also reported that the six Filipino survivors are “all in better physical and mental condition, and showing further positive signs of recovery.”

The Ambassador likewise stated that representatives of the MV Alexandros T’s marine insurance company P&I Associates Ltd. and other maritime officials are continuing their investigation of the incident by interviewing the surviving crewmen as to their respective personal accounts of the incident.

“As soon as the fact-finding process is completed, the six OFWs might be repatriated either on Thursday or Friday of this week,” Ambassador Reyes said.

He also stated that the manning agency in Manila – which has been regularly communicating with the Embassy team in Durban – could also be contacted by the family members of the survivors.  The contact person is Capt. Milano with Manila phone numbers 631-1226, 631-1227, 633-5986, 633-5989, and 633-5991; mobile number 0919-6698778; and email inormph@pldtdsl.net.   END