MANILA, Philippines — Fourteen Filipino crew members who survived a projectile attack on a crude oil tanker in the strategic Strait of Hormuz arrived safely in Manila on Tuesday night, days after an assault that left two of their colleagues dead.
Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration chief Patricia Yvonne Caunan greeted the group at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 after their flight from Dubai.
The Saudi-flagged tanker MT SIDR was transiting the strait on Aug. 31 when it was struck by unidentified projectiles. The vessel carried 16 Filipino crew members, two of whom were killed in the blast.
Cacdac told reporters the surviving sailors were unharmed, safe, and preparing to reunite with their families. He expressed gratitude to authorities in Oman and the United Arab Emirates for aiding the crew’s evacuation from coastal waters off Khasab, Oman, and facilitating their transit through Dubai.
Government officials said the remains of the two slain sailors will be repatriated in the coming days, noting that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. instructed welfare agencies to extend full support to the grieving families.
The surviving sailors were placed in temporary hotel accommodations arranged by their manning agency, which is also coordinating medical examinations. The Department of Migrant Workers and the welfare administration will provide psychosocial counseling and reintegration support, Caunan said.
Philippine labor authorities have launched an investigation into the incident, examining whether deployment protocols for hazardous and high-risk navigation zones were observed.
Filipino maritime personnel account for a significant share of the global commercial shipping workforce, frequently operating on transit routes vulnerable to regional conflict. The migrant workers agency confirmed it is concurrently organizing the return of roughly 82 Filipino crew members from four vessels targeted in the northern Black Sea, with their arrivals expected later this week.
