By LESLIE ANN AQUINO
The families of the two overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were killed in a gas explosion in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) will receive financial assistance from the government.
In a statement on Wednesday, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said the families of the victims – Clark Bacud Gasis and Merriner Goc-ong Bertoces – will receive P120,000 bereavement assistance each from the government.
“They will also get insurance benefits if they are qualified members of the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration,” he said.
“We will extend to them all the support the government can provide,” Bello added.
According to the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE), a report from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Abu Dhabi said a total of 10 Filipinos, including two children, figured in the deadly accident reportedly caused by a gas leak inside a Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant on Airport Road on August 31.
The explosion instantly killed Gasis, 39, an electrical draughtsman from Surigao del Sur, and Bertoces, 26, a KFC-Abu Dhabi employee from Negros Oriental.
DoLE said the blast also caused injuries to eight other Filipinos.
Six of them were immediately taken to the Sheik Khalifa Medical Center (SKMC) for treatment, but five of the injured have already been discharged while the other identified as Rodel Paclibar remained at the hospital for further observation.
When visited and interviewed by POLO officials at SKMC, Paclibar, also a KFC-Abu Dhabi staff, said he was relaying to his supervisor the condition of the gas tank when the blast happened.
Meanwhile, POLO officers also gathered that the two Filipino children, a two-month old and three-month old, were also hurt in the incident but are already out of danger.
A total of 28 persons including other nationals were affected by the deadly blast, authorities reported.
