'Tumagilid ang barko namin, tulong!': Missing cadet sought help as ferry sank off Basilan

Screengrab from Coast Guard District Southwestern Mindanao Facebook video

DAVAO — A cadet undergoing apprenticeship aboard the now-sunken MV Trisha Kerstin, who remains missing as of this writing, reached out to his family as the ferry began sinking early Monday.

Cadet Kyle Punsalang of Davao City was among more than 300 passengers on board the ferry. The 22-year-old messaged his family to say that the vessel was sinking and pleaded for help.

“Me tagilid among barko. Tabangggg (Our ship is listing. Help!),” he said in his last message to his family, sent at 12:56 a.m. on January 26.

Punsalang earlier informed his family that the ferry was fully booked while en route to Jolo, Sulu.

“Puno kaayo mi karon ug pasahero, fully booked (We are fully booked with passengers),” he said in a message sent at 9:06 p.m.

The cadet’s brother, JP Punsalang, took to social media to seek help in locating Kyle and to appeal for intensified search operations to find more survivors.

“Part po siya as one of the on-duty cadets at the time of the incident. He contacted us kasi regularly. If hindi po LGU, baka from the Coast Guard or mga taga-doon malapit sa port could help us locate him,” he said.

(He was among the on-duty cadets at the time of the incident. He contacted us regularly. If the LGU can't, perhaps the coast guard or those near the port could  help us locate him.)

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