The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Saturday said it had identified the second survivor of the sunken cattle ship Gulf Livestock 1.
The survivor, Jay-Nel Rosales, 30, was a deck crew, and hails from Cebu. He was “stable and able to walk on his own,” according to a report from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Osaka.
The first to be rescued was Eduardo Sareno, the ship’s chief officer.
In a statement, DOLE said Sareno remained hospitalized and would be brought to a hotel to undergo quarantine later this week.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the government would provide assistance to the survivors and their families.
“We are in touch with the next of kin of the crew and we are providing them all the help we can give, including the latest information on the search and rescue operation for our kababayans being done by Japanese authorities,” Bello said in a statement.
The POLO reported that another body, believed to be that of another Filipino crew member, was fished out of the waters. The identity of the fatality, however, has yet to be confirmed.
The capsized ship contained 5,800 cows and 43 crew members, of which 39 were Filipinos.
It was set to travel from New Zealand to Tangshan, but encountered Typhoon Maysak and sank in Japanese waters.
Search and rescue operations for the missing crewmen were suspended because of bad weather.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), through the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo and the Philippine Consulate General in Osaka, reports that in light of the expected arrival of Typhoon 10 in Japan, the Japanese Coast Guard has temporarily suspended its search and rescue operations,” the DFA said in a statement. John Ezekiel J. Hirro