They had already tried to save her once.
When Ben Indic’s wife, Susan, fell ill, she was taken to Manila for treatment. But despite the family’s hopes, she did not make it.
What came next was supposed to be a simple journey to bring her home.
Her casket was placed aboard the MV June Aster, bound for the place where her family planned to lay her to rest. For Ben and his relatives, the voyage was meant to be her final journey, a return home after the long, painful road that had taken her away from them.
Instead, the ferry became the scene of another tragedy.
According to Meynard Indic, Ben and other family members were aboard the passenger vessel after it departed Manila when a fire erupted at around 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 9.
Smoke and flames quickly spread through the ship, sending passengers into a desperate search for a way out.
Ben found one.
Separated from the others and trapped by the fire, he crawled across the deck until he reached a narrow opening, plunging into the sea. He drifted and swam in the dark waters for more than two hours before he was finally rescued.
But he could not bring his wife with him.
The casket carrying her remains was lost as the fire consumed the vessel.
For the Indic family, the loss was compounded by another unbearable uncertainty, because Ben’s daughter, Joanna, was also aboard the June Aster and remained among those 86 unaccounted for as search operations continued.
What was supposed to be a final act of love, bringing a wife, mother and grandmother home to rest, ended with one loved one lost to the flames and another still missing.
And perhaps that is what makes the tragedy hardest to comprehend.
She had already made one journey to Manila in search of life.
After she died, her family began the journey home with her.
They never made it.
Off Coron, as the wreckage of the June Aster smoldered, the family was left waiting for answers, mourning a woman whose final homecoming was taken from them, while praying that another member of their family might still be found.
