Sailor loses family home to Typhoon Haiyan

A Filipino sailor has spoken of the moment he feared his family had all been killed in the devastating
typhoon that ripped through the Philippines.

Ramon Sanico had just arrived in port on the Bermuda Islander when the typhoon struck his home city of Ormac on Leyte Island last week.

And he spent a worrying 12 hours desperately trying to contact his mother, father and sister in the aftermath of the disaster.

It was not until Friday morning as the Bermuda Islander set off across the Atlantic on her journey back to New Jersey that he was finally able to make contact with his family on the ship’s satellite phone.

The 25-year-old Second Officer told the Bermuda Sun: “When I spoke with my mother she was crying.

“I thought that one of my family must have been killed.

“But then she reassured me that everyone was okay, it was just our house that had been destroyed.

“The roof of the house had been blown off when the typhoon hit and we have lost all of our possessions.

“Everything that we had built up over time has been lost.

“But we are lucky because no one was hurt.”

Mr Sanico will remain on board the Bermuda Islander, on a six-month attachment, until March when he will travel home to see his family.

He added: “I am extremely grateful to have this job because it will allow me to pay for the repairs that will need to be done to my home.

“My mother says that the aid agencies have already arrived.

“But it will take a lot of work and money to get our family home to back how it was before.”