Two crew members of MV Athens Bridge, which traveled to India last month, were rushed to the hospital after showing signs of severe COVID-19, the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) said today.
Two members of the Bureau of Quarantine went to check on the crew members and recommended that two of them be brought to the hospital for treatment. Ten other sailors were stricken with COVID-19, but they were left behind on the ship, which is docked at Sangley Point in Cavite City. Ten oxygen tanks had already been brought on board the ship to help its ill crew members.
“As of press time, the crew members in critical condition have been safely evacuated and brought to the dedicated medical facility for treatment,” MARINA said in a press statement.
Read: COVID-19 kills 2 Pinoys in India, says ambassador
The ship departed from India on April 22 and arrived on May 1 in Vietnam, where it was discovered that a dozen of its members had been infected with COVID. The ship was initially barred from coming to the Philippines, but the Duterte government relented because all sailors of the Panamanian ship were Filipinos.
All travelers from India have been forbidden from entering the Philippines to prevent the spread of the B.1.617 variant, which has killed thousands of people in the subcontinent.
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