Saudi Arabian authorities are now investigating the death of a Filipino household service worker who reportedly fell from the sixth floor flat of her employer in the Holy City of Medinah last Friday.
In a report to the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Philippine consulate office in Jeddah said the victim, whose name is being withheld pending notification of the next of kin, suffered head injuries in the incident in the afternoon of April 27.
Consul General Edgar Badajos said the Filipino worker was brought to the hospital at around 3:30 p.m. (8:30 p.m. in Manila) but died shortly due to the head injuries sustained.
According to Badajos, a team from the Consulate General in Jeddah has been dispatched to Medinah to coordinate with Saudi authorities investigating the case.
The incident happened only several weeks after another Filipino domestic helper, Agnes Mancilla, was brought to the hospital in serious condition after her female employer forced her to drink household bleach in Jizan, a southern part of Saudi Arabia.
The 36-year old Mancilla was able to recover after a week and narrated her travails in the hands of her employer whom she said made her work for almost 20 hours daily and only gave her coffee for meals.
Mancilla’s case has caught the attention of the Society for Human Rights in Saudi Arabia who visited and interviewed her while confined at King Fahad Central Hospital in Jizan. (Roy C. Mabasa)
