Nguyen Thanh Giang, Consular Officer at the Vietnamese Embassy in Indonesia encourages the released fishermen before their return home

This is the last trip to repatriate the detained fishermen from Indonesia before the Lunar New Year (Tet) festival.

The young fishermen, from Kien Giang, Tien Giang, Binh Dinh, and Thanh Hoa provinces, had worked as hired labourers on fishing vessels and were witnesses in the trials of the captains and the chief mechanics in Indonesia. They were detained for a long time, from 10-18 months on Tarempa, Riau Islands.

Nguyen Thanh Giang, Consular Officer at the Embassy of Vietnam in Indonesia, said that the embassy has coordinated with the Indonesian authorities as well as with relevant domestic agencies for the swift completion of procedures to bring the detained fishermen - who were eligible to be released - home prior to Tet. In the near future, the embassy will continue to follow up and monitor the trials in efforts to bring more fishermen back home, he said.