Vietnamese authorities have handed over to the Philippine Embassy in Vietnam the only survivor so far out of the 19 Filipino crewmembers of the Bulk Jupiter, which recently sank off southern Vietnam.

>> Vietnam halts air search for sunken Bulk Jupiter, 16 missing sailorsAngelito Capindo Rojas, 43, the ship’s cook, was handed over to the embassy by representatives of the People’s Committee and the High Command of Border Guards in the southern city of Vung Tau on Tuesday afternoon. Rojas was rescued after drifting at sea for hours after the Bahamas-flagged ship suddenly sank about 150 nautical miles southeast of Vung Tau on the morning of January 2. The ship was in distress while transporting 46,400 tons of bauxite from Malaysia to China. Vietnamese rescue vessel SAR 413 took Rojas to Vung Tau on January 4 and he had been taken care of by the Ba Ria-Vung Tau province High Command of Border Guards until yesterday’s handover. The cook’s rescue took place during the search and rescue activities conducted by Vietnamese rescue forces, with the aid of many foreign ships.  

Angelito Capindo Rojas (L), the chef of the cargo ship Bulk Jupiter that sank off the southern Vietnamese city of Vung Tau on January 2, 2015. He was rescued on the same day.  Photo: Tuoi Tre

The Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue coordination Center (Vietnam MRCC) has mobilized many ships to search for the sunken vessel and the 16 missing sailors, while the Ministry of Defense also deployed many planes for the search.    Also on the same day, rescuers recovered two bodies of crewmembers drifting at sea, one of which was the ship’s captain, Andrin Ronel Acueza, 46, while the other was the third Officer, Dinoy Jerome Maquilang, 23. So far, chef Rojas is the only survivor of the incident. Today, January 1, the departments of police and foreign affairs of Ba Ria-Vung Tau province are scheduled to hand over the two bodies, which are being preserved at the Ho Chi Minh City Forensic Medicine Center, to the  Philippine Embassy in Vietnam for repatriation. On Monday Vietnam authorities decided to suspend using planes to look for the Bulk Jupiter and the missing sailors, said Major General Nguyen Van Binh, deputy chief of the committee’s Secretariat and deputy head of the Rescue and Salvage Department under the Ministry of Defense. Over the past three days, search and rescue forces from the committee and the Vietnam People’s Army have mobilized dozens of ships – including fishing boats – to search for the sunken ship and the missing sailors, with the support of many foreign vessels, the official said. However, except for saving the ship’s chef and recovering the two above bodies, the joint rescue forces have yet to find any more sailors or signs of the sunken ship, he said.

A crew list is available here.

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