Indonesian Ambassador to Peru Marina Estella Anwar Bey said in a statement that the men had arrived in Jakarta on Saturday on connecting flights via Brazil and Qatar.

They took the Lima–Sao Paulo–Doha–Jakarta route home.

"The 21 crewmen worked aboard three separate ships, namely Cosario I, Pescamaro I and Pescamaro VI," Marina said on Tuesday, as quoted by tribunnews.com.

The men had been staying at the embassy in Lima since September after the shipowners employing their services ran into financial troubles because of the pandemic.

"The crew had not received their salaries, and [the owners] did not give them return tickets to fly back to Indonesia," she said.

Measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 have disrupted domestic and international supply chains in the global fisheries sector, especially following limitations or closures of food services, tourism and transportation, as well as the introduction of trade controls.

Read also: Indonesia supports global push to combat illegal fishing

Peru is no exception. The Latin American country has limited the entry of foreigners as a COVID-19 precaution.

A strictly limited number of foreign nationals are allowed in on the basis of humanitarian need or other critical cases, the Indonesian Embassy in Lima said in a statement in August.

This has led to dozens of Indonesian sailors, who make a living spending months aboard foreign fishing vessels in the open sea, being stranded miles away from home.

The embassy previously repatriated at least five waves of stranded citizens.

Since the outbreak, the Foreign Ministry has put more emphasis on protecting Indonesian citizens overseas, particularly those considered stranded.

Marina said another 77 stranded sailors would be repatriated in the coming week in three separate waves. "They worked on several Chinese fishing vessels, and their contracts have expired," the ambassador said.

The next wave of returnees is expected to depart on Dec. 11, when 26 men will fly the Lima-Madrid-Doha-Jakarta route.

The following group, consisting of 34 sailors, is set to depart on Dec. 15, returning to Jakarta via Amsterdam.

The final 15 crew members are expected to be repatriated the following day on the same route home, she said.

The envoy said that while the embassy had facilitated Saturday’s repatriation, expenses for the remaining 77 sailors would be paid for by their employers.

As of Tuesday, two Indonesian crew members were staying at the embassy in self-isolation after testing positive for COVID-19.

"We hope they will recover in the near future and can return home soon," she said.

As of Tuesday, 2,144 Indonesians had tested positive for COVID-19 outside of the country, according to data from the ministry’s directorate for the protection of Indonesian nationals and entities aboard. (nal)