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The two Filipino sailors rescued from the missing Panamanian-flagged vessel Gulf Livestock-1 will soon return to the Philippines, the Department of Foreign Relations (DFA) said.
The seafarers were rescued from the capsized ship in international waters in the East China Sea.
The Japanese Coast Guard (JCG) found the Filipinos after their boat capsized on September 2, 2020 after they received, that same day, the boat’s distress call, as the boat was caught in the middle of the typhoon Maysak.
He then launched a search and rescue operation that led to the recovery of the two Filipino crew members and one crew member who was later pronounced dead.
However, the JCG had to temporarily suspend its search and rescue operation with the Typhoon Haishen attack.
Following the resumption of operations on September 7, 2020, the JCG found no trace of the missing ship or its crew.
The search continues but there are no further developments to date, the DFA said.
However, the families of the missing Filipino sailors have appealed to the DFA to request either Japan or South Korea to continue the search.
Senator Risa Hontiveros, meanwhile, wrote to Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. “to ask the Japanese government to expand its search and rescue (SAR) efforts for the 36 Filipino sailors who are still missing at sea.
Losin responded in a tweet that said: “The Japanese government, the ambassador and I are in this and Japan did not cease its search that Saturday, but in fact continued it against protocol. On the other hand, I refuse to ask other Asian powers to join the search because that is an attack on the sovereignty of Japan. “
The DFA, through the Office of the Under Secretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA), the Embassy of the Philippines in Tokyo, the Consulate General of the Philippines in Osaka and the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Osaka, under a single country approach, in close coordination with the local manning agency, the shipowner and the Japanese Coast Guard during the conduct of search operations, the eventual recovery and repatriation of the two Filipino seafarers.
