The administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. rescued Friday evening 21 of the 22 Filipino seafarers on board the Houthi-hit MV Tutor.
The rescue was made a few hours after the Chief Executive ordered government agencies on the same day to bring them to safety.
“Around 10:30 to 11:00 pm last night, nagkaroon ng rescue ang combined international forces doon and na-extract from the ship … so, in-extract ‘yung 21 Filipino seafarers and they were boarded on to a security forces ship and taken to safer port,” Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said.
“I saw that they are all safe and sound. Nobody was harmed,” he said. He said they will have the seafarers undergo medical check-up first. Cacdac said President Marcos is on top of the situation.
“Una, nagpahayag siya ng rescue is on its way. Tinugunan ng ating mahal na Pangulo ‘yung video ng mga seafarer. Humingi ng tulong sa kaniya at ang tugon niya: Don’t worry, rescue is on its way. At ito na, at around midnight last night. Actually mga 11 o’clock,” Cacdac said.
“The President is elated over this development. And having said that, ‘yung utos ng ating Pangulo na hanapin ‘yung nag-iisang seafarer onboard the MV Tutor,” he added when asked how the Chief Executive reacted to the development.
Cacdac made the remarks in a news forum in Quezon City, or less than 24 hours after President Marcos issued a short video message, assuring the Filipino seafarers that the government is exhausting all remedies available to ensure they are brought to safety.
One Filipino seafarer, who was at the engine room when the Houthi group attacked the MV Tutor remains missing. But Cacdac said a search operation will be conducted to find the missing Filipino seafarer.
He said they have already informed the family of the missing Filipino seafarer and relayed to them President Marcos’ directive to monitor the situation.
“I accompanied the family of the missing seafarer to the office of the manning agency and I met the ship owner’s agent there and we were assured that we will not stop in terms of locating our missing seafarer who is just within the ship,” he said.
“The President has clearly directed us to monitor the situation as well as the continuing well-being of the 21 seafarers who are now headed for safer port. So, it really, really just boils down to finding, locating our seafarer who is still onboard the MV Tutor,” he added.
In an ambush interview, Cacdac assured the family of the missing Filipino seafarer that the government will not stop in its rescue operation. He said a salvage operation will be conducted before the ship is towed away to safer port.
Some Filipinos were on board the Greek-owned and Liberia-flagged freighter MV Tutor when Houthi rebels attacked the vessel while traversing the Red Sea on Wednesday. |PND
