Seventeen brave Filipino seafarers are finally coming home to the Philippines this Friday, July 11, after surviving a terrifying attack at sea, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said on Wednesday night.
DMW Secretary Hans Cacdac shared the good news during a press conference.
“They’ll be home on July 11. We’ll give more details soon,” he said.
Safe in Djibouti After Escape
Right now, the 17 seafarers are staying safely in a hotel in Djibouti, a country in East Africa. They are recovering after a frightening escape from the cargo ship MV Magic Seas, which was attacked by armed men believed to be Houthi rebels last Saturday.
The ship, which flies a Liberian flag, was attacked while sailing 51 nautical miles southwest of Hodeidah, near Yemen. According to reports, the rebels used automatic guns and even rocket-propelled grenades to strike the ship. Thankfully, the Filipino crew and two others managed to escape and were rescued.
Another Ship in Danger
But the danger didn’t stop there. Secretary Cacdac also gave an update about another ship, the Eternity C, a bulk carrier operated by a Greek company. This ship had 22 crew members onboard — 21 Filipinos and 1 Russian.
The Eternity C was attacked on Monday, just a couple of days after the MV Magic Seas incident. So far, only 5 crew members have been rescued. The DMW is still waiting to confirm how many people may have died.
According to a Reuters report, four seafarers were killed in that second attack. But officials in the Philippines are still working to verify the details as rescue operations continue.
These back-to-back attacks on ships near Yemen have left families in the Philippines scared and anxious. But for the 17 survivors from MV Magic Seas, there’s hope and relief — they’ll finally be stepping foot on home soil this Friday. Everyone is still praying for the rest of the crew from Eternity C, hoping they’ll be found safe too.
