|
Friday, August 26, 2005
Pinoy killed in mortar attack in Iraq
MANILA -- The Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) is verifying the identity of the Filipino worker who died in a bombing attack by insurgents in the city of Kirkuk in Iraq last Wednesday.
"It's hard to confirm that as of now. Baghdad is still a war zone," said Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas.
She added that the situation in Iraq is "very risky and dangerous" and that is why all Philippine diplomatic staffers were withdrawn from that country recently.
Sto. Tomas said the report she also received is that a Filipino engineer was among those injured in the attack in Kirkuk Wednesday.
She identified the injured Filipino as Roderick Tayo, an employee of Lucent Technologies. Tayo relayed to his brother Jun in Oman what happened to him.
Jun, in turn, notified Oman-based labor attaché Eleuterio Cojuangco about the attack. Cojuangco then called up the labor department in Manila to report the incident.
The attack occurred while Tayo and several companions were on their way to Kirkuk.
There are an estimated 7,000 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Iraq and of this number, 4,000 are documented and working in US military camps while about 3,000 or more are undocumented. (JMR/Sunnex)
(August 26, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
Bills' flaws may stall split-Cebu hearing