22 Pinoy seafarers arrive safely in Manila from Ukraine

Twenty-two Filipino seafarers arrived safely in Manila from Ukraine on Saturday.

The seafarers are crew members of the MTM Rio Grande, an oil tanker which was docked at the Nika-Tera port in Ukraine when Russian forces invaded that country, according to a tweet by GMA News reporter Mai Bermudez.

Ligtas na nakauwi sa bansa ang 22 crew ng oil tanker na MTM Rio Grande na nakadaong sa Nika-Tera port sa bansang Ukraine.

Sinalubong sila ng mga tauhan ng DFA at OWWA.@gmanews

????: MIAA Media Affairs pic.twitter.com/WzoGFkXBDS

— Mai Bermudez (@MaiBermudezGMA) March 12, 2022

Officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) welcomed the seafarers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport upon their arrival.

In an exclusive report by Mai Bermudez on GMA’s “24 Oras Weekend” on Sunday, crew member Michael Tolaytay said that the ship docked at the port on February 24, the first day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, leaving them stranded in the country.

There have since been attacks on some 140 commercial ships docked in the country, with a number of them hit and one fatality reported.

“Nalaman namin at nakita namin mismo sa harap namin ‘yung barko na Bangladesh ship na tinamaan… doon na kami na-alarma at hindi na kami mapakali, kaya halos lahat kaming crew gumagawa na kami ng paraan kung sino ang puwedeng matawagan,” Tolaytay said.

[We saw for ourselves the Bangladesh ship which was hit… It was then that we were alarmed and frazzled, so almost all of us in the crew were looking for ways and who to contact.]

The crew tried to get in touch with the European Union and their agency for assistance, then walked for kilometers to reach the border.

“We don’t care about the money. We don’t care about the financial losses, because I think it is not a loss for the company, rather, it is a good investment for us na nadala namin ‘yung mga tao namin pauwi sa pamilya nila [that we were able to bring them home to their families],” New Wave Management Maritime president Captain Jose Remo Librodo said in the same report.

Some 11 other crew members of M/V Star Laura from Ukraine also arrived in the Philippines on Saturday. All of them will undergo counseling and debriefing with the OWWA.

323 evacuated

The DFA said it has assisted 323 Filipinos in Ukraine as of March 12.

Of this number, 173 have already arrived in the Philippines.

REAL NUMBERS of DFA Repatriation Update of Filipinos in Ukraine as of 12 March 2022 (9:00 pm): @teddyboylocsin @DFAPHL pic.twitter.com/NOA72WZ3q0

— Sarah Lou Ysmael Arriola (@slyarriola) March 12, 2022

The Philippine government on Monday ordered the mandatory evacuation of all Filipinos in Ukraine amid the worsening conflict between the Eastern European state and Russia.

It also ordered a total deployment ban for Filipinos who plan to work in Ukraine, including direct hires.

Tensions continued in Ukraine this weekend as Russia pursued its invasion for the third week.

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia was sending in new troops after Ukrainian forces put 31 of Russia's battalion tactical groups out of action, Reuters reported.

Zelensky also said about 1,300 Ukrainian troops had been killed so far. — with Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/KG/BM, GMA News