The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) has repatriated more than half of the roughly 400 Filipino seafarers who were aboard 27 ships attacked in the Northern Black Sea amid the Ukraine-Russia war.
DMW Secretary Hans J. Cacdac made the announcement after the launch of the Philippines-New Zealand Friendship Week at the DMW main office in Mandaluyong City last Tuesday.
‘Around 260 of them have come home. So more than 50 percent or around 60 percent have returned home,’ he said partly in Filipino in a press briefing.
He gave the update after DMW reported during the weekend the safe condition of the 39 Filipino crew members of two ships, which were hit by drone attacks at the Black Sea.
Since tensions in the Black Sea escalated, Cacdac said they have recorded three Filipino sailors, who died, and another 15, who were injured from the ongoing conflict in the said body of water.
He said the government was able to send home the said sailors via Romania and Turkiye, where they also received aid from the team of DMW and Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) officials and personnel.
The interventions include welcoming sailors when they disembark from ships, preparing their repatriation, giving them financial assistance, and coordinating with their families in the Philippines.
Compared to the ongoing tensions in the Red Sea, where there are also stranded Filipino sailors, Cacdac said the situation in the Black Sea is less concerning since there are various available exit routes of ships to safely navigate to.
To prevent more Filipinos from being affected by the ongoing conflict in the Black Sea, the DMW chief urged Filipino sailors to exercise their right to refuse to sail in such dangerous waters.
DMW also called on shipowners not to bring Filipino seafarers in the said area, which the DFA and the Department of National Defense has tagged to be under ‘full scale international armed conflict.’