Tuesday, June 2, 2020

PH Navy ships with 30 Pinoy tourists, workers to arrive June 16

From the Philippine News Agency (Jun 2, 2020): PH Navy ships with 30 Pinoy tourists, workers to arrive June 16 (By Priam Nepomuceno)



BRP Ramon Alcaraz and BRP Davao Del Sur. (File photo courtesy of Philippine Navy)

The Naval Task Force (NTF) 82, which consists of landing dock BRP Davao Del Sur (LD-602) and offshore patrol vessel BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PS-16), is expected to arrive in the Philippines by June 16.

"NTF-82 left Port of Colombo en route to Manila around midnight of 31 May. They are expected to arrive here on 16 June," said Navy public affairs office chief, Lt. Commander Maria Christina Roxas, in a message to the Philippine News Agency on Tuesday.

Roxas added that the port where the two ships will be docking will be announced later.

She said the entire contingent of NTF 82, along with the repatriated 30 Filipino tourists and workers in India and Sri Lanka, will be made to undergo a 14-day quarantine in line with the government's coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) containment efforts.

"They still need to undergo the 14-day mandatory quarantine as required by the government," Roxas said.

NTF 82 arrived at the Port of Colombo in Sri Lanka on May 29 to pick up 12 more Filipino tourists and overseas workers stranded by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

Roxas earlier said all of these 12 repatriates tested negative for the disease and will join the 18 other Filipino tourists and workers picked up in India aboard the BRP Davao Del Sur.

She added the voyage from Cochin, India to Sri Lanka was also a validation for newly-repaired BRP Ramon Alcaraz whose engine room caught fire shortly after leaving the Indian port on May 7.

Repairs on the ship were completed on May 27.

After this, BRP Ramon Alcaraz and the Davao Del Sur, who initially proceeded alone on May 9, was forced to seek shelter anew in Cochin due to heavy weather caused by Cyclone Amphan that battered eastern India and Bangladesh.

The two ships were deployed to Oman last February as a contingency measure should a large number of overseas Filipino workers needs to be evacuated following tensions between the United States and Iran.

They sailed from Sultan Qaboos, Oman last April 21 and arrived in India on April 29 to fetch a donation of 200,000 pieces of face mask from a Filipino businessman based in the country, as well as Filipino tourists who were stranded due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1104651

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