Friday, July 11, 2008 Sinking victim’s brother holds on to detached finger By Elisabeth P. Baumgart Sun.Star Correspondent
ALL that is left of Vyner Jarantilla, 28, is half his pinky finger.
After losing his brother to the sinking of mv Princess of the Stars, Alvin now only has half of his older brother Vyner’s pinky finger as a physical reminder of him.
The pinky finger floats in a marmalade jam filled with formalin. It has aged over the months; nail blackened, skin peeling off rubbery flesh with the bone barely jutting out of the flesh where it broke off from Vyner’s right hand.
Alvin said Vyner kept the finger as remembrance of his motorcycle accident last October 2007.
Vyner was speeding down a road in Dipolog City, Zamboanga when his front tire burst.
“He and the motorcycle swerved down the road, falling over,” said Alvin.
Vyner broke his pinky finger when the motorcycle flipped, added Alvin.
“Na-ipit ang iyang kumingking sa brake, dayun ni bali ang tudlo pag tapsing sa motor,” said Alvin.
Doctors at the Dipo-log City Hospital tried to restore the dislocated finger, but the procedure failed after several days.
Vyner’s pinky finger slowly turned black, recalled Alvin. After signs of gangrene were present, Vyner sought help at the Chong Hua Hospital in Cebu City and had the finger cut.
Alvin said that Vyner kept the finger as a remembrance, placing it on the windowsill of his room.
For Vyner, the pinky finger was a reminder of the accident one October day in 2007 that nearly cost his life.
For Alvin, the pinky finger would now be a reminder of the accident last June 21 that took his brother’s life.
Alvin brought the dislocated finger yesterday to the action center at the Cebu City Sports Complex in hopes of having its DNA extracted.
However, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) turned down the finger saying that it was useless to draw out DNA from it.
Since the finger has been soaked in formalin for such a long time, the NBI said the bone had completely soaked up the chemical, rendering a test useless.
For now, Alvin will have to rely on the DNA sample he gave yesterday in hopes of finally finding his missing brother.
Vyner was a crewmem-ber of the mv Princess of the Stars and was set to go on leave once he arrived in Cebu.
“We were set to celebrate the christening of his child, and my birthday,” said Alvin.
Alvin said he was looking forward to the birth of his daughter, saying that Vyner even had a cow ready for the big celebration.
Now, the only thing the family was looking forward to would be the finding the rest of Vyner’s missing body.
