Vietnamese father, daughter jump from ferry in Zamboanga

ZAMBOANGA CITY - A Vietnamese man and his daughter jumped from a ferry here while trying to evade deportation, police said on Monday.

Police said the 37-year old Nguyen Thanh Truc and his daughter were recovered by crew members of the M/V Antonia and the duo was brought to the Zamboanga City Medical Center before turning them over to the Bureau of Immigration which ordered their deportation on Sunday, March 19.

The Bureau of Immigration said the duo arrived here with incomplete documents from Sandakan City in Sabah, Malaysia along with Filipino deportees. "The Bureau of Immigration instructed the crew of said sea vessel to deport the aforementioned foreigners due to incomplete documents which prompted the father to jump into the sea along with his daughter," police said.

No other details were released by the authorities on Truc's background and the Vietnam Embassy in the Philippines have not issued any statement or whether it was informed about the incident.

It was also in the same ferry that a Filipino Muslim, Razmel Abdul Rahim, 31, drowned after jumping from the fourth level window on March 15.  His body was recovered two days later, according to the Malaysian newspaper, The Star, which reported the incident on March 18.

It was unclear  whether Rahim was evading deportation or had committed suicide. The ferry was carrying 653 Filipino deportees. There was no immediate statement from the Philippine authorities on the death of Rahim, whose place of origin remains unknown. (Mindanao Examiner)