At their home in Cainta, Rizal, Marimar Deogrades continues to wait for news from Occidental Mindoro. Her husband, Mark Deogrades, a 32-year-old safety officer of the MV Hong Hai 16, which sank this Holy Tuesday at around 5 p.m., is still missing, according to the Philippine Coast Guard.
According to Marimar, the last time she knew the crew had dinner was around 5:00 or 6:00 p.m., so she had a feeling her husband was not in the cabin when the incident occurred.
He wanted to go to the incident command post in Barangay Malawaan, but he didn't have the strength because he was a dialysis patient. “I just got out of the hospital, my BP went up, I almost fainted yesterday,” he said.
Mark and Marimar have two children – an 8-year-old and a 2-year-old. Marimar is now holding on to her prayers and hopes to see Mark again. “He is the only thing keeping us alive. He has been missing for a long time. I hope that even if he is dead, we will find him,” she said tearfully.
The confirmed death toll from the tragedy has reached 9. Two bodies were found yesterday inside the ship — one in cargo hold no. 1, and one in the monitoring room. The recovered bodies are almost unrecognizable. search and rescue operations are ongoing for the other two missing crew members.
