DFA: Gov’t exerting best efforts to bring home seven Filipino seafarers detained in Libya

(Eagle News) — The Department of Foreign Affairs assured the families of the seven Filipino seafarers who were detained in Libya that it was exerting best efforts to bring them home.

In a statement, the DFA said Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. already held a meeting “with the Libyan official on the sides of the Global Compact for Migration meeting in Morocco last month.”

“The Secretary reiterated his request to Libyan Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Ahmed Eddeb during a meeting at the Department last week,” the DFA added.

The DFA said the seafarers who were crew members of the Liberian-flagged MV Levant and were accused of oil smuggling, have already been visited by Filipino authorities in Tripoli to ensure that they have a lawyer.

Libyan authorities gave the DFA the assurance the Filipinos were in good condition.