Unidentified Princess of the Stars victims’ remains to be moved to Carreta cemetery bone chamber
The unclaimed and unidentified remains of the passengers of the ill-fated M/V Princess of the Stars that are buried at Carreta Cemetery will be exhumed anytime this year.
Jessie Denuyo, officer-in-charge of Carreta Cemetery, said their protocol is to exhume the bodies when it has already been buried for five years there.
About 59 bodies have been buried at Carreta cemetery since 2009, which was a year after the tragedy. The site where the ill-fated M/V Princess of the Stars victims are buried is also near where the unclaimed bodies of M/V St. Thomas Aquinas passengers are also buried.
“So far no families have been here in the office to talk about the unclaimed bodies of their relatives,” Denuyo told Cebu Daily News.
There is still no exact date of the exhumation.
“Depende na siya kung wala nay laing kabutangan ang mga bag-ong ilubong pero karon jud nang tuiga (It will depend if there is space for those new bodies to be buried, but I’m sure this will be done this year),” he told CDN.
Denuyo also said if there will be no one to claim the remains of the passengers, then they will be exhumed and the remains will be placed in a common bone chamber at the Carreta Cemetery.
Mayor Michael Rama and his staff lit candles and offer prayers for the unidentified victims of the MV Princess of the Stars sinking at the Carreta Cemetery. (CDN PHOTO / MICHELLE JOY L. PADAYHAG)
Yesterday, only Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and his staff visited the tombs of the unclaimed remains of the M/V Princess of the Stars passengers.
After spending time with the departed relatives from his mother’s side, Rama visited the tombs of the passengers of the M/V St. Thomas Aquinas who perished in a collision with the Sulpicio Express Siete vessel last year.
The mayor then headed to the site where the 59 remains of the Princess of the Stars victims were buried. Rama lit the candles and even led his staff in offering prayers for the departed passengers.
The Princess of the Stars owned by Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corp. (PSAC) then known as Sulpicio Lines left the port of Manila en route to Cebu at the height of typhoon Frank.
The ship had 820 passengers and crew on board. It capsized off Romblon on June 21, 2008. Only 32 survived.
Related Stories:
Six years after Princess of the Stars’ sinking, proceedings still snagged by technicalities
Supreme Court: No blame for Sulpicio owner for 2008 ship sinking