DOLE: 296 Pinoy crew members from ill-fated cruise ship arriving Wednesday

The 296 Filipino crew members of the ill-fated cruise ship that figured in an accident off Italy are due to arrive Wednesday and are entitled to added benefits, the Department of Labor and Employment said late Tuesday. Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the employers of the Filipino seafarers provided repatriation assistance, including cash advances for their trip home. “Other compensation includes payment for loss of personal belongings in the amount provided in the contract, including payment of Injury/sick wages if any seafarer suffers injury as a result of the incident,” she added in a news release on the Official Gazette website. . She also noted the seafarers' employment contracts provides for full payment of salaries and other benefits. Under the seafarers’ contract, she said employment is deemed terminated in case of shipwreck, as in this case, or where voyage has been discontinued for various reasons. "And it provides that in such a case, the seafarer is entitled to payment of wages until his arrival in Manila; earned leave pay; one month termination pay and repatriation expenses,” said Baldoz. The 296 Filipinos had worked aboard the ill-fated Italian luxury liner Costa Concordia, which ran aground Friday off Giglio Island in Italy. Baldoz said the seafarer crew of Costa Concordia have all been evacuated from the island and are now in the town of Grosetto in the province of Tuscany. For its part, the Philippine Embassy in Rome has provided the Filipino crew with travel documents, as all their personal documents have been left on board and are beyond recovery, she said. — LBG, GMA News