11 Pinoy seamen stranded in Albania brought home

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced Monday that 11 Filipino seafarers stranded in Albania for five months have been rescued. The DFA cited a report from the Philippine embassy in Rome that the seamen were stranded at Duress port in Albania and endured lived in a rotting vessel for five months. It said the seamen were left "without salaries, food and basic items and supplies." Upon their arrival in Albania in July 2006, their ship, the M/V Seapark, anchored for major repairs, which were marked by long delays in repairs because of the owner’s financial problems. Upon learning of the Filipino seafarers’ plight, Ambassador Philippe Lhuiilier dispatched Assistance to Nationals (ATN) Officer Antonio Villar and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Officer Marco Antonio Liwag to Albania to immediately look after the seamen's basic needs and bring them back to the Philippines. After marathon negotiations with Albanian port authorities and the director of the Eastern European country’s shipyard and the immigration Police, the embassy officers were able to effect the repatriation of the distressed seamen. -GMANews.TV