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ILOILO CITY — Thirteen seafarers, stranded for over two months aboard an international cargo ship anchored off Iloilo City, were finally rescued on Monday evening, June 30, 2025.
The 13 stranded crew members of the MV Hirman Star are rescued on June 30, 2025. They were stranded in the cargo ship that had been in anchorage off the coast of Iloilo for two months. PHOTO COURTESY OF JAMJAM BARONDA/FACEBOOK
The 13 stranded crew members of the MV Hirman Star are rescued on June 30, 2025. They were stranded in the cargo ship that had been in anchorage off the coast of Iloilo for two months. PHOTO COURTESY OF JAMJAM BARONDA/FACEBOOK
The crew of the MV Hirman Star — six Filipinos and seven Indians — had been stuck aboard the vessel off the Loboc anchorage area since early May.
Among the Filipino crew members, three are from the Iloilo towns of Tigbauan, San Joaquin and Estancia.
The rescue operation was initiated after the crew sought assistance from the office of Iloilo City Lone District Representative Julienne Baronda on June 28.
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On Monday morning, Baronda met with officials of the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to secure the crew’s safe release and coordinate the provision of assistance.
OWWA Administrator Patricia Yvonne Caunan said each of the rescued seafarers will receive P50,000 in financial assistance from OWWA, with an additional P50,000 to be provided by the DMW’s action fund.
“We also ensure that the salary or monetary provision they are going after will be released. We will facilitate their settlement,” she added.
The seafarers underwent debriefing and medical evaluations on Tuesday. A crewing agency, under the supervision of DMW and OWWA, will handle their repatriation.
Caunan said that they are in talks with the vessel owner and manning agency to ensure food provisions are delivered while repatriation documents are processed.
The MV Hirman Star PHOTO COURTESY OF JAMJAM BARONDA/FACEBOOK
The stranded crew joined the MV Hirman Star on April 3, 2025, under Erika Crew Manning Services. The ship had arrived in Iloilo from Vietnam in August 2024, carrying a cargo of rice.
While docked in Iloilo, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and Port State Control boarded the MV Hirman Star and discovered expired trading certificates and unpaid salaries of the Indian crew, reportedly delayed for three months. These issues prompted authorities to detain the vessel.
Although the PCG lifted the detention order on April 12 and the Philippine Ports Authority granted port clearance by May 7, the ship remained unable to depart due to technical issues.
On May 8, preparations for a voyage to Singapore began, but a malfunctioning gyro compass was discovered.
The ship’s owner reportedly refused to authorize repairs and instructed the captain to proceed using only a magnetic compass, a move the vessel’s master refused, citing serious safety concerns.
The situation worsened when the crew attempted to correct a starboard list and discovered a crack in the vessel’s bulbous bow, leading to seawater ingress. Declaring the vessel unseaworthy, the crew refused to sail.
The crew reported receiving only partial payment for April, with the remaining balance and full salary for May being withheld by the shipowner.
The shipowner allegedly insisted that full wages would be released only after the vessel departed.
The crew claimed their last delivery of food and water was on May 12, leaving them in dire straits for over six weeks.
