An Emirates flight from Dubai brought the body of a Filipino seafarer into NAIA Terminal 3 on Saturday, September 26. The seafarer was killed more than two weeks earlier when the tanker Hercules Star was hit while at anchor off the UAE.
Personnel from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) met flight EK332. They coordinated with other concerned agencies and the local manning agency to clear the remains through the airport and turn them over to the family. Neither agency has released the seafarer’s name, rank, or hometown.
OWWA said its Regional Welfare Office is in personal contact with the bereaved relatives. The agency said it is arranging welfare assistance and other support suited to the family’s needs, and it pledged to stay involved in the steps that follow the homecoming. OWWA also offered its condolences to the seafarer’s loved ones.
The seafarer was one of nine Filipinos in a crew of 13 aboard the Gibraltar-flagged vessel, the DMW said, citing the manning agency that handled the deployment. The eight surviving Filipinos were reported safe in the days after the incident and were lodged at a hotel in the UAE while arrangements were made for their return. Charterer Peninsula later said all surviving members of the Hercules Star crew had been repatriated.
DMW Officer-in-Charge Bernard P. Olalia and Undersecretary Felicitas Q. Bay extended the administration’s sympathies to the family. They cited an order from President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. that affected seafarers and their families receive all needed assistance.
The tanker was at the Dubai Delta Anchorage in the early hours of September 9 when it was struck by an unidentified projectile. The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) received a report of a vessel at anchor listing about 24 nautical miles off Port Rashid, possibly taking on water. Reuters, citing preliminary assessments by maritime security sources, reported that a drone may have hit the ship. No attack has been officially confirmed.
A second crew member, missing since the strike, was found dead on September 17, Peninsula said. “Their family have been informed, and we continue to offer our full support and our deepest condolences,” the company said. It has not disclosed that crew member’s nationality.
The Hercules Star is a 7,998 DWT tanker that Peninsula charters from its sister company, Hercules Tanker Management. According to Seatrade Maritime News, the September 9 strike was the second attack on the vessel during the US-Iran war.
Saturday’s repatriation came two weeks after the remains of two other Filipino seafarers arrived in Manila on September 11. Both were killed when the Saudi-flagged tanker SIDR was hit in the Strait of Hormuz on August 31.
