POEA ordered to ensure safety of Pinoy seafarers involved in search for missing Malaysian plane

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz has directed the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to work with the employer of the 20 Filipino seafarers involved in the search for the missing Malaysian passenger plane to ensure their safety.

Baldoz gave the order as she lauded the 20 seafarers on board the Norwegian ship Höegh St. Petersburg.

“We are heartened that our overseas Filipino seafarers are contributing to the international effort to locate the missing Malaysian Airlines flight 370,” Baldoz said in a statement Wednesday.
 
“I am confident our seafarers onboard the Höegh St. Petersburg will perform what is expected of them,” she added, describing the 20 as “competent, very professional, and knowledgeable.”

Baldoz ordered the POEA to work closely with Höegh Fleet Services Phils., Inc. in monitoring the ship and ensuring the welfare of the Filipino seafarers on board the vessel.
 
The MH 370 vanished while en route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China on March 8, 2014 with some 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board.
 
Höegh St. Petersburg, under the auspices of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), is presently engaged in the search for debris supposed to belong to the ill-fated passenger plane off Perth, Australia in the southern Indian Ocean.
 
It was reported that the vessel was the first ship in the location where Australian aircraft spotted what were supposed to be the missing plane's debris.
 
The ship was on its way from South Africa to Australia when it diverted its course to the area after the AMSA requested its assistance. It immediately conducted search operation after it arrived in the area on March 20.
 
Baldoz also hailed Höegh Fleet Services Phils., Inc. (HFSP), a subsidiary of Höegh Fleet Services of Norway and the ship's owner, for its preference for overseas Filipino seafarers.
 
There are 1,500 Filipinos presently employed in the company, according to the Department of Labor and Employment. — KBK, GMA News

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