Manning agencies help bring home 247 seafarers from Germany

A new day of hope begins for 247 Filipino seafarers aboard MS Amera and MS Amadea from Frankfurt, Germany who wake up in high spirits upon landing in Manila early morning today. Maligayang pagbabalik, mga kababayan! #DFAinACTION#AssistanceToNationals#WeHealAsOne pic.twitter.com/8D5RkYRuoJ

— DFA Philippines 🇵🇭 (@DFAPHL) April 8, 2020

MANILA – A total of 247 seafarers from Frankfurt, Germany have returned to the Philippines on Wednesday amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

The MS Amadea and MS Amera crew members arrived Wednesday morning via a chartered flight contracted by BSM Crew Service Centre Philippines Inc. and Five Star Marine Services Corp., the seafarers’ local manning agencies.

The MS Amadea crew members are the third batch of repatriates from the same vessel, following those who arrived earlier on April 5 and 7.

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), the seafarers were subjected to mandatory inspection and briefing before being brought to their designated patient care centers. The 247 repatriates will undergo the mandatory 14-day quarantine.

On Tuesday night, a total of 1,045 overseas workers also returned to the Philippines: 58 from Panama-flagged Carnival Panorama, 343 from Carnival Conquest, Carnival Ecstasy, Carnival Horizon, Carnival Magic, Carnival Sunshine, MS Amadea and MS Scenic Eclipse, and 644 undocumented workers from Kuwait.

Similar to the latest repatriates, the more than 1,000 overseas Filipinos went through mandatory inspection and quarantine protocols supervised by the Department of Health-Bureau of Quarantine.

Earlier, the DFA said the repatriation efforts are expected to continue through the Holy Week and beyond Easter Sunday since about a third of all seafarers worldwide are Filipinos.