DFA: 24 seafarers who escaped pirate attack now in PHL

Twenty-four of the 25 Filipino seafarers who were aboard a ship that successfully repelled a pirate attack last week arrived home Thursday night, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Friday. In a news release, the DFA said the 24 seafarers arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport aboard an Emirates flight from Mombasa, Kenya. "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 DFA said. On September 20, the Cyprus-flagged and owned container vessel with 25 Filipinos and one Ukrainian crewmember successfully repelled a piracy attack. Pirates had attacked the MV Pacific Express some 180 nautical miles east-southeast of Mombasa, prompting the vessel's captain to send a distress call that alerted the navy vessel Andreadoria to come to their rescue. The pirates abandoned the vessel and its crewmembers after setting fire to the vessel and burned items including the personal belongings of the seafarers. The Philippine Embassy in Nairobi issued travel documents to the Filipino seafarers because their passports and seamen's books were among the burned items. According to the DFA, there are still 32 Filipino seafarers aboard five vessels who are held captive by pirates at the Gulf of Aden. The officials who welcomed the seafarers in Manila on Friday included DFA Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers' Affairs (OUMWA) Special Assistant Atty. Enrico Fos, DFA-OUMWA Legal Officer Emily Descallar and representatives from the DFA and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA). - VVP, GMA News