AFTER three years, they remain nameless.
Only serial numbers mark the tombstones in the Carreta Cemetery of 42 persons who died in the M/V St. Thomas Aquinas accident but have remained unidentified.
When reporters visited the area yesterday, they saw some flowers from the shipping firm 2GO, which were kept in front of the bone chambers. The shipping company also provided lights in case some relatives decided to visit at night.
Last Aug.16, 2013, the St. Thomas Aquinas, which 2GO operated, departed from Nasipit in Agusan del Norte and was about to stop over in Cebu City when it collided with the M/V Sulpicio Express Siete off the coast of Talisay City.
Of the 715 passengers, 114 died and 23 remain missing until now.
Alfredo Zuñiga, a worker of the cemetery who takes care of the 42 bone chambers, said that the last time someone claimed one of the victims was three years ago.
“Murag dato tong bataa sa wala pa namatay. Dali kaayo nakuha to siya kay mismo ang iyang mga paryente mao’y nipamatood gyud nga siya gyud to pag-abli sa iyang lungon (That person must have belonged to a well-off family, who identified and claimed the remains quickly),” Zuñiga said.
Jess Desuyo told reporters that 48 remains were interred in Carreta in 2013, but surviving relatives claimed a few of them. He’s the field administrator of the portion of the Carreta Cemetery that belongs to the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral.
Ever since, Desuyo added, no one has visited the burial site, except for 2GO personnel who visit there during the anniversary of the sinking of the MV St. Thomas Aquinas every August.
Desuyo said he hopes that relatives could claim the remains soon, as the contract between 2GO and Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral for the use of the bone chambers will end in 2019.
If no one claims the bodies by then, cemetery personnel will be forced to clean out the bone chambers and store the remains in a common grave, Desuyo added.
Some 2GO officials offered a series of masses yesterday for those who died during the sea tragedy.
In his homily during the morning mass at the cemetery, Msgr. Ruben Labajo, who heads the team of pastors of the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, urged Catholics to pray for the souls of the dead, especially those who don’t have surviving kin.
“Mao ni nindot ni nga kahigayonan nga mag-ampo ta para kanila tungod kay daghan nangamatay nga way nag-ampo para kanila (This is our chance to pray for them. So many have died yet have no one to pray for their souls),” Labajo added.