The two Filipino survivors from the ill-fated MV Gulf Livestock 1 that sank in Japan arrived home Saturday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.

Chief Officer Eduardo Sareno and A/B Jay-nel Rosales, crew members of the sunken cattle ship in Japan, arrived in the country and "were received by the DFA," the agency said.

The two survivors returned home two weeks after they were rescued separately by the Japan Coast Guard.

Sareno was rescued in the morning of September 3 while Rosales was rescued in the afternoon of September 6.

Both were confined at the Kagoshima-ken Kenritsu Ooshima Hospital and were later transferred to the Hotel New Amami while waiting for their repatriation to the Philippines.

They were among the 43 crew members onboard the MV Gulf Livestock 1 that sank early this month after experiencing engine trouble amid a typhoon in the seas in Southern Japan.

The ill-fated cargo vessel had 39 Filipinos, two Australians, and two New Zealanders crew onboard.

The vessel, which was loaded with 5,867 cattle, left the Port of Napier in New Zealand on August 14 and was heading to the Port of Jingtan in Tangshan, China.

It was expected to reach Jingtan on September 3.

But in the early morning of Sept. 2, the cattle ship sent a distress call 2 to the Japan Coast Guard stationed at the Amami Ooshima Island in Kagoshima prefecture. That was the last communication received from the vessel.