The Department of Foreign Affairs welcomed the arrival of 21 seafarers from Ukraine on Tuesday.
The 21 seafarers of MV S-Breeze arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport this morning.
The group is the first amongst seafarers to be repatriated from Ukraine.
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“Aside from the 21, a group of 7 seafarers of MV Joseph Schulte are also scheduled to land later this afternoon,” the DFA said in a statement.
A solo arrival from another flight pushes the total number of today’s arrivals to 29.
As of today, 63 Filipinos have been repatriated from Ukraine while 136 have been evacuated.
“The Department expects more arrivals in the coming days as it steps up its efforts to repatriate our kababayans from Ukraine,” Undersecretary Sarah Lou Y. Arriola said in a statement.
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The Department sees an increase in the number of arrivals of seafarers in the next few days with seafarers of MV Star Helena, MV Global Aglaia, MV Key Knight and MV Pavlina all heading to Manila from Bucharest, Romania.
“The Philippine Embassy in Budapest and the Philippine Honorary Consulate in Moldova are working together to facilitate the repatriation of seafarers and overseas Filipinos from the south of Ukraine who managed to enter Moldova,” the DFA added.
