DMW: Recovery of remains of 2 Pinoy seafarers from Houthi-attacked ship still ongoing --- By GISELLE OMBAY, GMA Integrated News

Philippine authorities are still working on getting hold of the remains of the two Filipino seafarers killed in a missile attack by the rebel group Houthi almost a month since the incident happened, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said Thursday. “Ongoing ‘yung recovery nung dalawang tripulante natin on board the True Confidence. We are working very, very closely with the licensed manning agency, with the salvors,” DMW officer-in-charge Hans Cacdac said in a media briefing. (The recovery of the remains of the two crew members on board the True Confidence is ongoing.) The missile attack, which the Houthis claimed responsibility for, killed three seafarers onboard the Greek-owned ship True Confidence while traversing the Gulf of Aden on March 6. Among those who died were two Filipino seafarers, while two other Filipino crewmen were severely injured. All the 13 surviving Filipino crew members were already repatriated back to the Philippines. True Confidence, meanwhile, was abandoned with the bodies after being set ablaze in the attack. On March 11, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said the ship was towed to a port in Oman where the salvage operations would take place. Cacdac refused to give further information about the retrieval operations for the remains of those who perished in the attack. “Pasensya na [apologies], I just cannot disclose further details on this [because] we don’t want to disclose anything with respect to locations, details, and who are involved. Let’s leave it at that,” he said. Cacdac said the families of the Filipino seafarers who died are being updated from time to time. “Rest assured, the families are being handled through this process. For that matter, we just had a call with the families, and they are constantly updated virtually and face to face,” he added. The Houthis have launched a campaign of attacks on vessels in one of the world's busiest shipping lanes since November in solidarity with the Palestinians during Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza. With this, the DMW said last month that the Maritime Industry Tripartite Council (MITC) had recommended the status of the Southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden be declared as “warlike zones” for seafarers. Last week, the DMW issued guidelines for licensed manning agencies to observe should Filipino seafarers be assigned on ships that would ply high-risk and conflict areas, including the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and surrounding areas/waters.—AOL, GMA Integrated News

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