15 seafarers from sunken ship due in RP today

MANILA, Philippines - Fifteen Filipino seafarers who survived the sinking of the cargo ship M/V Kea off Cape Villano in Galicia, Spain are flying home today, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) reported.

OWWA chief Carmelita Dimzon said the Filipino crewmen are returning to the country this afternoon on board a Thai Airways flight.

Dimzon said an OWWA repatriation team will assist the seamen, who will be offered temporary stay at the OWWA halfway house in Pasay City.

They were originally expected to return to the country last Sunday, but their flight was postponed due to medical tests for the two of the 15 seafarers.

Meanwhile, OWWA has yet to receive the arrival date of two more Filipino survivors rescued and brought to Rotterdam.

Based from the reports of the welfare officer in Madrid, Dimzon said, there are two Filipino seamen still missing.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Enrico Fos said benefits due the families of missing seamen Leonilo Rosales and Jimmy Gabayoyo have been readied.

The m/v Kea, a Barbados-registered cargo vessel, was on its way to Santa Marta, Columbia from St. Petersburg Russia, when it keeled over and sank. – Mayen Jaymalin, Rainier Allan Ronda