A total of 21 Filipino seafarers are calling for help after their Greek employer abandoned them in a port in southeastern India three months ago.
The crew were stuck onboard their vessel, MV Evangelia M, a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier, at Kakinada Port in India after their employer left them behind.
The Filipinos aboard the vessel are calling for the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for their immediate repatriation and in the collection of their salaries from their employers.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano instructed the Philippine Embassy there to immediately send Consular officers to the port to personally check on the status of the seafarers.
Cayetano has also directed the DFA Office of Migrant Workers Affairs (DFA-OMWA) to request the assistance of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to ensure that the manning company of the seafarers in Manila will facilitate the repatriation and the payment of the salaries of the stranded seafarers.
