DFA reported 296 Filipino crewmembers safe on the Italian Ship
296 Pinoy crewmen of the Italian ship, M/V Costa Concordia, were reported safe by the Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday. However, three Filipino crewmembers were injured and are now in a hospital in Grosseto and another six bodies have been recovered while several are still missing.
According to the Philippine Embassy officials in Rome, the company owning the ship, Costa Crociere S.P.A., assured that they are starting to work on the repatriation of the Filipino crewmen. The company made their assurance that they would give full compensation to the Filipino crew and issued a letter stating the company's full commitment. Now, the embassy is also doing its job on issuing the travel documents of the Filipino crews. All the documents needed by the Filipino crewmembers were processed immediately and it was all free of charge by the team.
Earlier it was reported that the ship were composed of 4,000 people including the crewmembers.
Costa Concordia is known to be one of the largest ships of Costa Cruises.
The ship's captain , Francesco Schettino, is currently under arrest for causing the crash and for abandoning the ship.
SOURCES:
The Philippine Star Newspaper. January 17, 2012. 296 Pinoy crewmen on Italian cruise ship safe. Retrived from http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=768531&publicationSubCat…
BBC News. January 17, 2012. Fears grow for Concordia missing. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16587849