The Filipino Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has directed the Philippine Embassy in New Delhi to help 21 Filipino seafarers who are currently stranded at a port in southeastern India. The seafarers were abandoned by their employer more than three months ago.
Filipino Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano instructed the Embassy to send Consular officers to Kakinada Port, after he was informed of the stranded seafarers on board the ‘MV Evangelia M’, a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier.
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The crew are stranded on the vessel since June. The seafarers asked the assistance of the DFA to be repatriated and collect their salaries.
Secretary Cayetano also directed the DFA Office of Migrant Workers Affairs to ask the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) for help, in order to ensure that the manning company in Manila will enable the immediate repatriation and the payment of the salaries of the stranded seafarers