Italian Cruise Ship Mishap Affects Hundreds of OFWs

The Italian luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia lies on its side after it tipped over off Giglio island along Italy's Tuscan Coast.

Hundreds of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are in immediate need of assistance after the luxury cruise liner they were working in ran aground near the Tuscan coast off the island of Giglio.

The Philippine government has deployed officials to help OFWs working on board the Costa Concordia when it capsized Saturday afternoon.  The luxury cruise liner keeled over when it hit some huge rocks as it was navigating through the waters near the coast of Tuscany in Italy.  Emmanuel S. Geslani, a recruitment consultant, explained that the 300 to 350 OFWs working as part of the luxury cruise liner’s 1,000-strong crew were deployed by Costa Concordia’s operator’s exclusive employment agent, Magsaysay Maritime Shipping Corporation (Magsaysay Shipping).  Magsaysay Shipping representatives along with government representatives have been mobilized to help in the search and rescue operations as well as in the repatriation of the affected OFWs.

According to Magsaysay Shipping, they have already accounted for 291 of the OFWs on board the Costa Concordia.  The difficult recovery and evacuation of these OFWs was made easier with the help of an emergency response team formed and deployed by Magsaysay Shipping soon after the company’s management heard about the unfortunate incident.  As of yet, three OFWs were reported to have been injured in the incident.  “As of last night, all the Filipino crew members were safely evacuated and placed in nearby hotels.  Everybody is safe, except three of our crew who were airlifted to hospitals,” Marlon Roño, president of Magsaysay Shipping said.  Roño further detailed that two of the injured OFWs are receiving medical treatment for hypothermia while one is being treated for a broken arm.  The families of these injured OFWs as well as the others who were secured by the agency have been informed and kept updated through the agency’s text and email system.  Roño also said that they are having difficulties repatriating the OFWs since all their documents have been lost in the accident.

While Roño assured the OFWs and their families of their job security after they have recovered from the incident, he explained that they might have to be transferred to other cruise liners when they are ready to resume their duties.  The operator of the capsized luxury cruise liner will compensate these OFWs for their lost personal items as well as for their medical and repatriation expenses.

Photo:  globalnation.inquirer.net