128 repatriated Filipinos arrive from Turkey

A total of 128 land-based and sea-based Filipinos arrived in the country on Thursday following their repatriation from Turkey amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Filipinos, who sought the Philippine Embassy in Ankara's assistance, arrived via Turkish Airlines special flight (TK 4945) which departed from the Istanbul International Airport on 10 June 2020.

The group was composed of 69 land-based Filipino nationals— with 19 students and 34 undocumented workers from Turkish provinces from Ankara, Antalya, Bodrum, Denizli, Eskisehir, Erzincan, Gaziantep, Izmir, Istanbul, Konya, Mersin, Nevsehir, and Trabzon; and 56 sea-based workers who disembarked from different sea vessels docked in Turkish ports, namely the MV Stella Wakamatsu, MV HC Nadja Maria and the MV AOM Elena, and the MV Yavuz in Yalova, Tuzla in Istanbul, and Antalya, respectively.

Also in the group were three Filipino seafarers who signed off from their vessels, namely the MV Partagas and MV Orient Arrow, both in Istanbul, and the MV Golden Suek in Izmir, for emergency non-COVID-19 related medical treatments.

The Filipinos were repatriated through the combined efforts of the Philippine Embassy in Ankara, the Philippine Consulate General in Istanbul led by Philippine Ambassador to Turkey Raul Hernandez, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Turkish authorities.

The special flight also repatriated the remains of Maria Biluan, an overseas Filipino based in Ankara from Benguet, who passed away last 20 May 2020. —LDF, GMA News