Pinoy seafarers who repelled pirates now in Phl

MANILA, Philippines - The 24 Filipino seafarers who fought off pirates from their container vessel last Sept. 20 arrived in Manila on Thursday night.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday that the 24 Filipino seafarers aboard the M/V Pacific Express arrived aboard an Emirates flight from Mombasa, Kenya at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

On hand to welcome them were DFA-Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs special assistant Enrico Fos, DFA-OUMWA legal officer Emily Villanueva-Descallar and representatives from the DFA and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

The Cyprus-flagged and owned container vessel with 25 Filipinos and one Ukrainian crewmember successfully repelled a piracy attack last Sept. 20.

A Filipino seafarer stayed behind in Mombasa to assess the pirate-inflicted damage suffered by the vessel, as well as to conduct a property inventory.

The M/V Pacific Express was attacked by armed pirates approximately 180 nautical miles east-southeast of Mombasa, prompting the vessel’s captain to send a distress call, which alerted the navy vessel Andreadoria to come to their rescue.

The pirates abandoned the vessel and its crewmembers upon the arrival of the navy vessel. However, the pirates set fire to the vessel and burned the crewmembers’ belongings before leaving the ship. The Philippine embassy in Nairobi issued travel documents to the Filipino seafarers to replace their burned passports and seamen’s books.

There are currently 32 Filipino seafarers aboard five vessels who are held captive by pirates at the Gulf of Aden.

– Pia Lee-Brago, Rudy Santos