‘I have been crying and praying since last night’ – wife of passengerpublished at 05:05 BST
05:05 BST
Virma Simonette Rivera
Reporting from Manila
Image source, Ann Magbanua
Earlier we reported that one of the passengers aboard the MV June Aster was Marlon Magbanua.
I’ve just spoken to his wife, Anelyn, who said that Magbanua, a fisherman, had gone to Manila earlier this week to visit their two children who are enrolled in a Catholic school in the capital.
“He spent a couple of days there. He even sent me their picture,” she says.
Magbanua’s ferry was supposed to arrive at the port around 19:00, and Anelyn and her two-year-old son went to bed.
But around 22:00, Magbanua’s cousin arrived at the house to inform her that the ferry had caught fire.
“I can’t describe what I am feeling right now. I have been crying and praying since last night.”
Earlier today, when she heard that someone had seen a “Marlon Magbanua” among the rescued, Anelyn pleaded with officials in her village to drive her to Coron hospital.
“My two-year-old son and I are outside the hospital as we speak,” she says. “We have nothing but ourselves. It has also been raining.”
Officials have since told her that they have not seen her husband.