The Search for the Missing Seafarers of GULF LIVESTOCK 1



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“Let’s not have a good time, but we can do it.”

It is Ifugao’s translation of “We hope you come home safe and sound so we can meet again,” a message that my friend Maya Addug-Sánchez wants her brother, Captain Dante Addug, to receive and respond to.

I personally know the Addug brothers as I am a frequent visitor to Batad, Banaue in Ifugao, where their family runs a travelers inn.

Dante is the captain of the Panama-flagged GULF LIVESTOCK 1 cattle transport that capsized in southwestern Japan on September 2, 2020 during Typhoon Maysak, equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane with winds of at least 130 mph.

The 133.6-meter-long (438-foot) ship built in 2002 had thirty-nine (39) Filipinos, two New Zealanders and two Australians on board, as well as 5,800 head of cattle.

The ship left Napier, New Zealand on August 14, 2020 and was sailing towards Tangshan, China, when it experienced an engine problem and sent a distress signal before disappearing.

After eight days of search and rescue (SAR) operations, the Japanese coast guard suspended its efforts on September 10 after it found no trace of the ship since September 5. Both aerial searches and the four Coast Guard ships were unable to locate the ship, and all communication has been lost. The ship is believed to have sunk.

Two members of the crew have been found alive so far, and another was found unconscious and pronounced dead upon arrival at a Japanese hospital.

One of the survivors recounted that the ship’s main engine failed before the ship was hit by a large wave and capsized. He said the crew had put on their life jackets and they all jumped into the water.

Captain Addug was scheduled to be repatriated next month as his contract was about to expire, and he was excited to meet his four-month-old son for the first time once he was reunited with his family.

He is the youngest of a family of nine and has five children. He is also the youngest to become an Ifugao captain.

It was 8:30 pm on September 1 that Dante spoke for the last time with his partner telling him that Typhoon Maysak was hitting the ship, the water was already entering, and that he will go to the bridge to verify the situation.

“Aji yu ahan isarding an anapon jija. Sibibyag ja pay ”says Maya in Ifugao which means“ Please don’t stop looking. They are still alive. “

The families of the missing seafarers want search and rescue operations to continue.

They ask the Japanese government to invite Australia and New Zealand to share search and rescue resources.

Situations such as the sinking of GULF LIVESTOCK 1 normally require the application of the doctrine of the “good Samaritan vessel”.

For centuries, this maritime salvage doctrine has encouraged seafarers to come to the aid of lives and property in danger.

Good Samaritan ships are often the first to arrive on the scene and are often critical to saving lives.

In most cases, one person reacts to save another as a result of compassion or instinct, or both.

Seafarers, on the other hand, also have a legal obligation to assist.

This obligation comes from various legal sources, in particular the international conventions of the United Nations (UN) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) says that each signatory to the convention must require the captain of a ship flying its flag to provide assistance to anyone at sea in danger of being lost and to proceed to the rescue of people in danger.

The exemption is when the assisting vessel, crew or passengers on board would be in grave danger as a result of providing assistance to persons in distress.

The Convention on the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) says that “the captain of a ship at sea who is in a position to render assistance, upon receiving a signal from any source that there are people in distress at sea , is obliged to proceed quickly to their aid, if possible by informing them or the search and rescue service that the ship is doing so ”.

The 1979 International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) also requires this principle “regardless of the nationality or status of said person or the circumstances in which that person is found.”

It also adds the obligation for all ship captains to offer assistance to those in distress and controls the use of rescue signals with specific requirements regarding distress and distress messages.

The 1989 Salvage Convention, while primarily aimed at addressing the salvage of property and the prevention of marine pollution, nonetheless repeats SOLAS ‘obligation on the master to provide assistance to anyone in danger of being lost at sea.

The duty to provide assistance is a general reflection of customary international maritime law.

The hashtag # Savethe40 maintains the hopes of the relatives that they will soon receive the news that the 40 men are still alive at sea.

(Attorney Dennis Gorecho heads the Seafarers Division of the Law Offices of Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan. For comments, email [email protected], or call 09175025808 or 09088665786.)

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