21 stranded fishermen in Indonesia return home late Friday

BANGKOK, March 27 (TNA) - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports that a total of 21 Thai fishermen who have been stranded in Indonesia since October 2014 are scheduled to arrive home Friday night. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Sek Wannamathee, who is also Director-General of the ministry’s Department of Information, confirmed that the 21 stranded Thai fishermen on the Indonesian Ambon Island are scheduled to arrive at Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport at about 8:15pm. Sek told journalists that the rescued Thai fishermen will be welcomed at the airport by concerned officials, including those from his ministry, while the Thai Ministry of Social Development and Human Security will provide necessary assistance to them later. The spokesman stated that his ministry has steadily provided assistance to stranded Thai fishermen in Indonesia, in line with the government’s policy, with 146 of them having been sent home since last October and 70 of them rescued from Ambon Island alone. Meanwhile, Social Development and Human Security Minister Police General Adul Saengsingkaew led a special task force team, assigned to assist Thai fishermen stranded on Ambon Island, to meet with Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan in Bangkok on Thursday, before their departure for Indonesia on Friday. Two special task forces have been set up to rescue stranded Thai fishermen on Ambon Island, the first one set to leave on March 27 and the second one on April 6. Apart from providing assistance to the stranded Thai fishermen, the special teams will also help those lured into forced labour in the fishing industry . General Prawit, who oversees national security, insisted on the Thai government's policy on providing full assistance to stranded fishermen in Indonesia, slated as high as about 700 including foreigners, but suggesting that the first priority is to conduct nationality identification to ascertain that they are Thais before sending them home. According to the deputy prime minister, the Thai government plans to soon sign a memorandum of nderstanding (MOU) on maritime cooperation with Indonesia in order to prevent Thai fishermen from being arrested for intruding into Indonesia’s territorial waters in the future. (TNA)