Relevant agencies have repatriated 16 Vietnamese nationals aboard a cargo ship seized in the Philippines, while also working to return 15 fishermen who violated the waters of Papua New Guinea.

According to the Foreign Ministry’s Consular Department, the ship An Bien 89 was apprehended on February 22, 2015 in the Philippines for delivering 152,000 sacks of rice without an official import licence.

It is owned by the Finance Leasing Company No.1 of the State-run Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.

The vessel was fined and the 152,000 rice sacks confiscated.

The Philippines’ Bureau of Immigration recently agreed to release the ship and the 16 crew members on board.

The Binh Minh Shipping and Trading Joint Stock Company, which operates the ship, announced that the 16 crew members returned home safely.

Meanwhile, the Consular Department also worked with the Vietnamese Embassy in the Philippines and the Department on External Relations of central Quang Ngai province to repatriate three fishermen arrested in Papua New Guinea for infringing the country’s seas and fishing illegally.

They were among 15 fishermen aboard the fishing boat QNg 95996TS of Quang Ngai.

The consular agency is liaising with the Papua New Guinean authorities, the International Organisation for Migration and the Vietnamese Embassies in Indonesia and the Philippines to finalise procedures for returning the remaining fishermen, after their punishments end on March 11 as scheduled.

VNA