DFA moves to repatriate bodies of Pinoys killed in Iraq hotel fire

Malacanang said it was saddened by the deaths of 14 Filipinos in a hotel fire in Iraq’s Kurdistan region Friday and that it was working with Iraqi authorities to bring home the remains of victims. 

In a radio interview on Saturday, Undersecretary Manuel “Manolo” Quezon III of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office said they have been informed by the Department of Foreign Affairs that, through the help of the United Nations, DFA personnel have already been dispatched to the site of the tragedy to find out what help the government can extend.

“We are very sad about this. It’s a terrible way to die. Marami sila and it was, I believe, in a massage center,” Quezon said over dzRB Radyo ng Bayan. “We would like to get more details and do everything possible to bring our countrymen home and to look at every possibility to assist their families at this time of sadness and need.”

Asked for more details of the repatriation, he said the families should wait for a while because the DFA has just dispatched the people who will facilitate the repatriation.

“Kailangan tayong maghintay ng additional na detalye mula sa DFA dahil papunta pa lang si Elmer Cato para tingnan ang ginagawa natin para doon,” he said.

A fire at a hotel in the capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region killed 19 people, 14 of them were Filipinos according to Iraqi officials.

The other fatalities included three Iraqis, a Palestinian and another person of unknown nationality, according to the director general of the Arbil health department.

Dozens more were injured and taken to hospital in Arbil, the officials said.

Meanwhile, Quezon said they were still waiting for reports on Filipinos who may have been affected by an earthquake in Taiwan that killed several people.

The CNN reported on Saturday that at least five people were killed when a magnitude-6.4 earthquake hit Taiwan.

Quoting the Taiwanese Disaster Response Center, CNN said more than 200 people were rescued from damaged structures, many from a 17-story residential building that collapsed in Tainan.

Two bodies were also recovered from the building, officials said. PNA