Philippine Navy (PN) ships, BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PS16) and BRP Davao Del Sur (LD602), composing the Naval Task Force (NTF) 82 departed Port Sultan Qaboos on April 21, 2020 and commenced their journey back to Manila upon getting the green light from higher authorities.
The vessels will make brief stop at Port Cochin, India to pick-up personal protective equipment donated by a foreign private company in coordination with the Office of the Civil Defense, the government’s agency that is mandated to consolidate all donations to the national government and the Department of Health in this COVID 19 pandemic.
The ships are expected to arrive in Manila by the third week of May.
The two vessels left the port of Manila last Jan. 15 and made a brief stop in Sri Lanka to refuel. They reached Oman on Feb. 6 and docked at the Port Sultan Qaboos.
They were deployed to Oman to serve as transport of OFWs who would want to be repatriated following the assassination by the United States of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, which drove tensions close to a full-blown war in the Middle East.
