MANILA – Four Filipino seafarers onboard a container vessel seized by Iranian authorities near the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend are set to be released “soon.”
Department of Foreign Affairs undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said the four Filipino crew of MSC Aries were informed by their captors on Monday that they would be freed.
“Nobody wants to be in this situation but they have been told that they will be released soon — all of them, all of the seafarers,” De Vega said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel on Tuesday.
De Vega added that the Filipinos were “fine” and being fed by Iranians, and they were also allowed to contact their families and each of them spoke with their relatives for an hour.
The DFA official further said he is set to meet the Iranian ambassador on Tuesday about the release of the Filipinos.
An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps helicopter boarded the Portuguese-flagged MSC Aries and took it into Iranian waters on Saturday (Philippine time), reported Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency.
MSC, which operates the container vessel Aries, confirmed Iran had seized the ship and said it was working with the relevant authorities for its safe return and the wellbeing of its 25 crew.
The Strait of Hormuz connects the Gulf with the Indian Ocean and, according to the US Energy Information Administration, more than a fifth of annual global oil consumption passes through it each year./PN
