The Department of Foreign Affairs is now negotiating for the safe return of 18 Filipino seafarers from the seized oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, a Migrant Workers official said on Sunday.

Department of Migrant Workers officer-in-charge Hans Cacdac, in a radio interview, said the Philippine government is actively working towards promptly repatriating the Filipino crew members of the oil tanker St. Nikolas seized by the Iranian Navy off the coast of Oman on Friday amid the worsening Middle East crisis that stemmed from the war on Gaza.

The American tanker, which was en route from the Iraqi port of Basra to Turkey, garnered attention in 2023 when the United States confiscated more than 980,000 barrels of Iranian crude oil in a sanction enforcement operation.

“DFA is already negotiating the safe returns (of the 18 Filipino seafarers).  According to the DFA, there are already discussions in this regard with Iranian authorities,” Cacdac said.

“We are aware that they are safe for now. We are praying together with the families of those on St. Nikolas that they will be able to come home as soon as possible,” he added.

The DMW, he said, is collaborating with the licensed manning agency of St. Nikolas and the families of the crew members.

Empire Navigation, the company managing the seized tanker, has also reported ongoing communication with authorities and the crew’s families.

It added that the tanker was loaded with 145,000 tons of crude oil, carrying crew members, including 18 Filipinos and one Greek citizen.

On Saturday, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo de Vega said the Filipino seafarers are in “full health.”

De Vega added that the Iranian Ambassador to the Philippines, Yousef Esmaeilzadeh, vowed to help the Philippine government in the safe and immediate release of the crew members.

“So, there’s the confirmation that it (the ship) was captured. So, we’re just ascertaining the condition of our 18 seafarers,” De Vega said in a radio interview.

“They were not taken hostage; this is a different situation because what the Iranians targeted [was] the ship itself, so in a way, collateral damage to the crew. So, we’re confident that they will not be harmed and that they will be released in time,” he added.

He said that while the Iranian Embassy has not released information on the status of the Filipino seamen at this time, “there is no indication that they are being harmed or mistreated.”

“The Iranian ambassador assured that they would work on it so that they would be released as soon as possible,” he said.

Iran’s naval forces captured the St. Nikolas, a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker, as a response to the alleged “theft” of its oil from the same vessel by the United States the previous year.

The announcement of the seizure occurred shortly after a British Navy maritime security agency reported that armed individuals had boarded St. Nikolas and altered its course toward Bandar-e Jask in Iran.

According to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, it was reported that four or five unauthorized individuals wearing military-style black uniforms with black masks were involved in the incident.

Iran’s navy subsequently confirmed it had taken control of the vessel, formerly known as the Suez Rajan.

In the meantime, the US Central Command reported that the United States conducted a new strike on a Houthi rebel location in Yemen on Saturday, following warnings from Iran-backed militants about additional attacks on vessels in the Red Sea. The strike, which targeted a Houthi radar site, occurred after numerous attacks across the country, raising concerns that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas could spread throughout the broader region.