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Roel Pareño - The Philippine Star
March 7, 2026 | 12:00am
Philippine Coast Guard divers recover a body from the sunken MV Trisha Kerstin 3 off Baluk-Baluk Island, Basilan, during ongoing search and rescue operations on February 11, 2026.
Philippine Coast Guard via Facebook
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — Police forensic experts have identified one of the bodies recovered from the wreckage of the sunken M/V Trisha Kerstin 3 to be the missing ship captain.
The identification of Capt. Sonie Secuban ended speculation that the skipper escaped when the vessel sank in the waters off Baluk-Baluk Island in Basilan on Jan. 26.
Coded as “cadaver 004,” forensic experts identified Secuban through a DNA test. The result was released during a meeting called by Mayor Khymer Olaso between families of the missing victims and members of interagency response teams on Thursday.
The remains of Secuban were among the seven unidentified bodies recovered by technical divers of the Philippine Coast Guard from the wreckage.
The forensic team said that profiles of DNA samples collected from a sibling of Secuban showed that “cadaver 004” was a biological brother.
To confirm the result, experts collected buccal swabs from Sonny Jay Secuban, the ship captain’s son.
“The probability of parentage for this case is 99.99 percent, meaning Sonny Jay Secuban is a biological son of the missing captain Sonie Secuban. Therefore, ‘cadaver 004’ is the missing captain,” Cpl. Clyde Talavera, Zamboanga police forensic unit specialist, said.
