BY ROY MABASA
The number of Filipinos injured in the powerful blasts that rocked Beirut has increased to 24 with two dead and one missing, Philippine Embassy Charge d’Affaires Ajeet Panemanglor said on Wednesday.
Panemanglor said the embassy is now checking all the hospitals and health facilities in Beirut to locate the missing Filipino domestic helper.
The embassy, according to Panemanglor, learned about the case of the missing domestic helper when a fellow Filipino reported it to them.
“We don’t have any other details except for her immediate details like her name, and other basic information,” he explained.
The latest number of injured Filipinos included the seafarers who were earlier reported missing but later found to be safe in the care of their employer.
“We visited them in a hotel where they are currently staying to ensure that they are safe and secure,” the embassy official said in a television interview.
Regarding the two fatalities, Panomanglar said they are ready to immediately repatriate the remains of the two domestic helpers as soon as government offices reopen following the tragic incident that killed more than a hundred people and injuring thousands of others.
“We will do our utmost best to immediately bring home their remains. We will start the process as soon as the government reopens after the National Day of Mourning,” he said.
There are more or less 33,000 Filipinos working in Lebanon, many of them as household service workers. (Roy C. Mabasa)
