STRANDED FILIPINOS IN TOLITOLI TO BE HANDED OVER TO PHILIPPINES

Palu, Dec 17 (ANTARA) - Eight Filipinos, stranded in Tolitoli waters in Central Sulawesi early November this year, will be handed over to the Philippine Consulate General in Manado, North Sulawesi, on Thursday.

"Escorted by two immigration officials, the eight stranded Filipinos were driven to the Philippine Consulate General office in Manado on Wednesday night," Palu immigration office spokesman Marsongko said here on Thursday.

Marsongko said that if nothing intervened, the stranded Filipinos will arrive in Manado on Thursday to be handed over to the Philippine Consulate General office for deportation.

"Thus the Philippine Consulate General office instead of our immigration office will deport them to their home country," Marsongko said.

He said the Filipinos would probably be deported through Bitung port where they would be transported on a passenger ship plying the Bitung-Davao route.

A number of Indonesian fishermen on November 1, 2009, found and rescued the eight Filipinos on a boat which was drifting aimlessly at Tolitoli waters.

They were admitted to Ogotua clinics at Dampal Selatan sub-district to undergo emergency treatment before being transferred to a Tolitoli public hospital.

Marsongko said the boat they were traveling on at the time ran out of fuel and stranded on its way from Lahar Datu in Malaysia to Tave-Tave island in the Philippines.