By TARA YAP
ILOILO CITY — A Filipina seafarer has gone missing after she allegedly fell off a cargo ship that was sailing off the coast of Germany over the weekend.
The disappearance of Jerlyn Isah Quisumbing, 24, who works for the Danish-flagged freighter Santa Clara, has already been reported to Philippine authorities.
“We are still in positive [spirit] that our child is still alive,” said Richard Quisumbing, Jerlyn’s father.
“But we are also in a hurry that they will find her. Maybe she’s in a hospital somewhere,” Richard told Manila Bulletin in an interview Friday, February 12.
Jerlyn’s mother Rossana said they were told that her daughter fell off the ship in an accident as the ship was approaching the port of Bremerhaven, a coastal city in northern Germany.
The plight of the Quisimbings, who hail from Capiz province, reached Filipino authorities after they contacted Filipina blogger and photographer Maria Josephine Renker, who is based in Germany.
Renker’s blog reached the attention of Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro “Teddy Boy” Locsín Jr.
The Quisimbings confirmed that Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) chief Hans Leo Cacdac has called them as well as the Philippine Overseas Labor and Office (POLO) in Germany.
