Philippine Navy ships sail home after Middle East repatriation mission

The Philippine Navy has confirmed that two of its vessels that were deployed to the Middle East earlier this year for the repatriation of Filipino citizens displaced by rising US-Iran tensions have completed their mission and have begun sailing for home.

Naval Task Force 82, which is comprised of the Tarlac-class landing platform dock (LPD) BRP Davao Del Sur (pictured) and the Gregorio Del Pilar-class patrol ship BRP Ramon Alcaraz as well as their embarked crews, departed Port Sultan Qaboos in Muscat, Oman, on Tuesday, April 21, after being ordered to return to the Philippines to aid in the national government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ships are also scheduled to make a brief stop at Cochin, India, to pick up sets of personal protective equipment (PPE) for use by health care workers tasked with treating COVID-19 patients in various hospitals throughout the Philippines.

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