A Filipino captain was declared missing while the container ship he was supposed to be leading was on voyage in the high seas of the Mediterranean Sea.
Reports reaching the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) identified the missing Filipino as Lucio Cabading Sablas, captain of Algeciras Express.
The principal foreign manning agency of Algeciras Express, Conbulk Ship Management Corporation, informed the POEA last July 3 through email that Sablas was missing while “onboard.”
That Sunday, Algeciras Express was halfway between Malta and Pantelleria Islands in Italy, while en route from Yalova, Turkey to Tanger Med Port, Morocco, when the crew said they realized their captain was missing.
“Already conducted four times (sic) full-detailed search of the vessel, but still Master (captain) has not been found,” the report to POEA Administrator Bernard P. Olalia said.
According to the safety4sea website, Algeciras Express was prevented from reaching the port in the Spanish town of Algeciras until a new captain joined and commanded the vessel.
Upon reaching the Algeciras port on July 7, Spanish authorities searched the ship, entered the cabin of the missing captain and took the statement of the first officer and 28 other crew members.
“The agents did not find anything abnormal; while they also found the navigation plan for the following day designed by the captain,” ship4sea.com reported.
Olalia said Sablas’s local manning agency, Crew and Ship Management International Inc., has been instructed to submit a full report on the incident.
Since Algeciras Express is a Liberian-flagged vessel, Spanish authorities have also reported the incident to Liberia. The container ship operates under charter to Hapag-Lloyd.