300 Pinoy crewmen on stricken Italian cruise ship

MANILA, Philippines - Three hundred Filipino crewmembers were aboard the cruise ship Costa Concordia when it ran aground and keeled over off the coast of Grosseto, Tuscany last Friday.

In a statement over the weekend, Foreign Affairs spokesperson Raul Hernandez said at least 21 seafarers were reported injured, one with a broken arm and another with hypothermia.

“A rescued Filipino crewmember said that the Filipinos are generally safe,” he said, although he noted that an official roll call of crewmembers was still being undertaken. Rescuers said three people had been confirmed killed.

The ship hit rocks and started to keel over late Friday on the western coast of Italy as it began a Mediterranean cruise.

It was earlier reported that around 4,000 people were on board the vessel. The ship had a crew of 1,000.

The Philippine embassy in Rome has dispatched a seven-man emergency response team to assist Filipino victims.

In a report to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), ambassador to Rome Virgilio Reyes Jr. said the team led by Consul General Grace Cruz-Fabella went to Porto Sto. Stefano, where the victims were immediately brought in emergency lifeboats.

The victims were temporarily housed in a church, in hotels and in schools at the port of Giglio Island. Many have already been transported to the mainland.

Three Filipino crewmembers were reported confined in a hospital located in Grosseto for injuries caused by falling from decks.

From Porto Stefano, where the passengers and crew were listed and given food, they will be taken to Grosseto by bus. From there, there will be further checking of documents and accounting of the crew and passengers.

They will then be transported to hotels in Genova and Savona where the Costa Concordia have offices.

The Philippine embassy in Rome has also activated a “nerve center” to coordinate the actions of the response team, receive feedback from Costa Concordia officials, relevant managing agencies, and to report developments to the DFA.

Recruitment consultant Emmanuel Geslani said the manning agency Magsaysay Maritime Shipping Corp. that deployed the Filipino workers in the cruise ship, should attend to their needs.

Magsaysay Maritime Shipping Corp. is the exclusive agent of Carnival Lines that operate Costa Cruicere, an Italian Cruise company.    

The Costa Concordia, a 1,500-cabin luxury vessel, is one of the largest ships of Costa Cruises.

About 30 percent of the world’s merchant seafarers come from the Philippines, from sailors working in oil tankers that pass through pirate infested waters to those employed in cruise ships. – With Rudy Santos