Officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs (OUMWA) welcomed the arrival of 21 seafarers of MV S-Breeze, the first group of seafarers repatriated from Ukraine Tuesday morning.

This brings the total number of those repatriated from Ukraine to 63, while 136 have been evacuated.

Another group of seven seafarers from MV Joseph Schulte are also scheduled to arrive in Manila later Tuesday, while seafarers of MV Star Helena, MV Global Aglaia, MV Key Knight and MV Pavlina are en route to Manila from Bucharest, Romania.

“The Department expects more arrivals in the coming days as it steps up its efforts to bring home our kababayan from Ukraine,” stated OUMWA Undersecretary Sarah Lou Arriola.

The Philippine Embassy in Budapest and the Philippine Honorary Consulate in Moldova are working together to facilitate the repatriation of seafarers and overseas Filipinos from the south of Ukraine who managed to enter Moldova. OPCD-Media and Public Affairs Division