Thursday, June 26, 2008 Captain looked after safety of passengers
SHIP captain Florencio Marimon “will never run away from his responsibility,” his elder sister said yesterday, amid speculations he has gone into hiding after the mv Princess of the Stars flipped during last week’s typhoon.
Inocencia said her brother Florencio always looked after the safety and welfare of his passengers, and made a habit of doing regular rounds to check on his passengers.
“He has no vices. He doesn’t smoke or drink,” she said.
Inocencia said that knowing how her brother is so unselfish, he could have been trapped in the capsized ferry.
“It’s possible that he was trapped because he would always prioritize the safety of the passengers,” Inocencia said in an interview over radio dyLA.
Maritime procedure requires that the ship captain be the last person to leave a vessel in distress.
Inocencia said the 56-year-old captain has been suffering from hypertension and arthritis, which would make it difficult for him to endure in rough seas.
Sun.Star Cebu visited the Marimon residence in Cebu City but his family members begged off from issuing comments to the media.
Like other distraught relatives of the missing passengers, Inocencia said they are also worried about the ship captain’s whereabouts.
She said that family members even plan to go directly to Romblon and Masbate, where some of the bodies were washed ashore or plucked from the sea.
She hoped that her brother was not among those buried at a mass grave in Masbate.
Inocencia said she last contacted Marimon during the fiesta of Barangay Catagbacan, Loon, Bohol in May. The Marimons hail from Loon town.
Sulpicio Lines Inc. considered Marimon one of its most senior captains that it chose him to lead the Princess of the Stars since it began sailing in 2004.
Inocencia said her brother has been loyal to the company since he began working there in 1987.
Maritime investigators consider Marimon the best person who can shed light on the circumstances behind the sinking of the seven-story vessel off Sibuyan Island.
At press time yesterday, Marimon was still among the hundreds of passengers and crew of the ferry still unaccounted for, four days after the tragedy. (GC)
