|
SIX
Filipino seafarers were among the 30 crewmen who were
taken hostage on board a French-registered cruise ship
Le Ponant on Friday in the gulf between Somalia and
Yemen, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on
Tuesday.
DFA
undersecretary for migrant workers affairs Esteban
Conejos Jr., said the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs
has conveyed to his office that all 30 crew members “are
safe and in good condition” but remain in the custody of
their captors.
He said
the hostage-taking occurred on April 4 when the three-masted
leisure craft with a capacity of 90 passengers left
Alexandria in Egypt and was moving toward the Red Sea
for Malta to take additional passengers.
Undersecretary Conejos said the nationality of the
hostage-takers remains unknown at this point, but he
assumed these people originated from Somalia as the ship
is now anchored in the northeast coast of Somalia.
He said
the Philippine embassy in
Paris through Ambassador Jose Zaide has been instructed “to
get in touch with the French authorities and impress on
them that the Philippine government seeks the immediate
and safe release of the hostages.”
The six
Filipino crewmembers include a female cabin steward.
Conejos
has also instructed the Philippine embassy in Manama to
confirm the incident with the United States 6th Fleet,
which is part of the coalition of naval forces
patrolling these dangerous international waters, and
seek assistance from it.
The DFA,
he said, has decided not to divulge the identities of
the Filipino seafarers based on the
requests of their families in the Philippines.
The six
Filipinos were deployed by the manning agency Magsaysay
Maritime Inc., said Conejos. |
