Ordeal ends for the 19 Filipino crew of UBC Savannah.

Nineteen Filipino seafarers detained in Mexico since July on suspicion of cocaine trafficking, 11 compatriots involved in a car crash in Egypt and two trafficked Filipinas in Morocco were repatriated Tuesday.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said its Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs coordinated the efforts of the Philippine embassies in Mexico City, Cairo, and Tripoli to successfully bring home the distressed OFW.

The embassy in Mexico provided the seafarers legal and welfare assistance after Mexican authorities detained them and three of their Polish officers when 227 packages of cocaine weighing 225 kilos were found under a cargo of ore on 23 July 2019.

The 11 Filipinos from Egypt were part of the group that figured in a vehicular accident in Dahab, Egypt. The Philippine Embassy in Cairo and the Filipino community in the area were among the first responders.

Meanwhile, two OFs who were illegally deployed and trafficked to Morocco as household service workers were rescued and immediately repatriated through the help of the Honorary Consulate General in Casablanca and the Embassy in Tripoli. The DFA endorsed their cases to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking and the National Bureau of Investigation for appropriate action.