Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary hand Leo Cacdac. Image from OWWA / Facebook
The European Union’s Naval Force “Aspides” rescued on Thursday the 23 Filipino and two Russian crew members of the oil tanker Sounion that was attacked in the Red Sea and took them to the East African nation of Djibouti.
An official of the naval force said on Thursday that they responded to a request from the shipping company and the captain of the Sounion and dispatched units to rescue the crew.
The Aspides official said that during the rescue in the morning of Aug. 22, an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) emerged and posed a threat to the Sounion and its crew, but it was successfully neutralized.
The USV was believed to have been deployed by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, but the group has yet to take responsibility for the attack.
Earlier on Thursday, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said the Filipinos on the Sounion were anxious about their situation as other Filipinos in Lebanon asked to be rescued from intensifying hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Call for help
“They are anxious and are requesting to be rescued from the ship,” said DMW Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac as Aspides started its rescue operation.
The Sounion was en route to Athens when it was attacked about 77 nautical miles off Hodeidah in Yemen on Wednesday.
“There were three missile attacks that damaged the engine leading the ship to take in some water, but not enough to sink it. However, the ship is adrift,” Cacdac said.
No less than six commercial vessels with Filipino crews have already been attacked or detained in the Red Sea or the Persian Gulf since the Iran-backed Hamas attacked Israel in October.
The Houthis said their attacks on commercial shipping were an expression of solidarity with Hamas terrorists who attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
Hezbollah also considered a terrorist organization since the 1990s but part of the coalition governing Lebanon, has also expressed “solidarity” with Hamas, which has lost more than 40,000 Palestinian fighters and civilians in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
On Wednesday, Israel bombed several Hezbollah weapons storage facilities in the Beqaa Valley and southern Lebanon. There are at least 12,000 Filipinos in Lebanon.
The government has urged Filipinos to temporarily leave the country while the airport is still open, but only 27 agreed to be repatriated last week, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
The Filipinos arrived in the country from Aug. 14 to Aug. 16 with the help of the Philippine Embassy in Beirut, the DFA said.
“Demand for flights out of [Lebanon] has spiked in the last four weeks, and the cost of plane tickets have doubled, even tripled, also due to the suspension and cancellation of flights of [several] airline carriers,” it added.
READ: 17 Filipino seafarers safe after recent Houthi rebels’ attack
Of the repatriates, seven were permanent residents who were spouses of Lebanese nationals, 17 were overseas Filipino workers and three were minors.