(UPDATE) THE Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has found the possible location of the sunken passenger vessel MV Trisha Kerstin 3 amid ongoing search and rescue operations in the waters off Baluk-Baluk Island, Basilan.
Technical divers located the wreck lying in an east-to-west orientation relative to the island’s shoreline, offering critical positioning data for underwater recovery efforts.
PCG Technical Diving Group Supervisor Commander Cheska Jamorol said the vessel sighting, achieved with the aid of side-scan sonar and dive teams, carries about 95 percent certainty pending final confirmation.
The joint search and rescue team, composed of PCG personnel, other government agencies, local government units and volunteer fishermen, has been recovering bodies from the site and turning them over for identification and proper disposition. On Tuesday night, one cadaver was recovered near where the wreck was found; on Wednesday, two more bodies were retrieved from the surrounding waters, bringing the official death toll to 45.
The number of survivors remains at 316, with the tally of missing individuals yet to be definitively established amid discrepancies in passenger manifests and survivors’ accounts.
Authorities commenced DNA identification for the recovered cadavers, with families providing samples to aid the process as authorities strive to ensure accurate and timely identification.
The ill-fated roll on-roll off ferry, owned by Aleson Shipping Lines, sank in the early hours of Jan. 26 while en route from Zamboanga City to Jolo, Sulu, triggering large-scale search and rescue operations that have now entered their second week.
