By Junex Doronio
MANILA — Saying that the four Filipino seafarers are fine and being fed by their Iranian captors, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Tuesday (16 April 2024) said that they will be released “soon”.
The four Filipino seafarers, whose identities are withheld, were among the crew of MSC Aries that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized last April 13 near the Strait of Hormuz in an apparent response to an Israeli attack on its consulate in Syria.
“Nobody wants in this situation but they had been told that they will be released soon — all of them, all of the seafarers,” DFA Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega told ANC in an interview.
He also said that the four Filipinos were allowed by the Iranians to contact their families, and each of them spoke with their relatives for an hour.
De Vega disclosed that he is set to meet the Iranian ambassador on Tuesday about the release of the Filipinos.
To recall, some Filipino crew members of an oil tanker that Iran seized in January in response to the US seizure of crude from Iran on the same vessel in 2023 were sent back to the Philippines in March.
(el Amigo/MNM)
