Kin of Antiqueño seafarer killed in Houthi attack to get aid

Kin of Antiqueño seafarer killed in Houthi attack to get aid
MA. THERESA LADIAO March 13, 2024 https://www.panaynews.net/kin-of-antiqueno-seafarer-killed-in-houthi-att...

BY MA. THERESA LADIAO

ILOILO – The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) has pledged assistance to the family of an Antiqueño seafarer, one of two fatalities in a recent attack by Houthi rebels on a merchant vessel.

DMW officer-in-charge Hans Leo Cacdac engaged with Gov. Rhodora Cadiao of Antique following his visit to the seafarer’s family in Barangay Madrangca, San Jose de Buenavista town on Monday, March 11.

According to Cacdac, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has advised that all efforts be made to assist the family until the seafarer’s remains are returned.

Cadiao, on her part, assured Cacdac that the provincial government will provide support to the seafarer’s family as the retrieval of the remains aboard M/V True Confidence is still ongoing.

The Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office will conduct case management to facilitate the provision of aid to individuals in crises and their families.

It has been learned that the seafarer had been working on ships for 11 years and that he had only been back on board for a month before the incident.

Furthermore, the family only received news of the incident on March 7, a day after the attack.

Meanwhile, the family is still awaiting guidance from the national government on the type of assistance they can expect as they await the results of the retrieval operation.

M/V True Confidence, which was navigating the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, caught fire after the Houthi missile strike hit the vessel’s fuel section on March 6./PN