DFA: 21 seafarers evacuated from Ukraine now in PHL

(Eagle News) — The 21 seafarers who were evacuated from the vessel MV S-Breeze in Ukraine have arrived in the Philippines.

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, with their arrival, the total number of Filipinos repatriated from Ukraine was now 63.

Meanwhile, 136 have been evacuated.

The department said another group of seven seafarers from MV Joseph Schulte are also scheduled to arrive in Manila later today.

Seafarers of MV Star Helena, MV Global Aglaia, MV Key Knight and MV Pavlina, meanwhile, are en route to Manila from Bucharest, Romania.

“The Department expects more arrivals in the coming days as it steps up its efforts to bring home our kababayan from Ukraine,”  Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Undersecretary Sarah Lou Y. Arriola said.

“The Philippine Embassy in Budapest and the Philippine Honorary Consulate in Moldova are continuously working together to facilitate the repatriation of seafarers and overseas Filipinos from the south of Ukraine who managed to enter Moldova,” the department said.