A FIRE at a hotel in Iraq’s Kurdistan region on Friday killed 17 people, including 14 Filipinos, a Philippine Embassy official said.
“We have just been informed that 14 Filipinos were among the 17 people who died in a fire that struck a hotel in Erbil, capital of the Kurdistan region of Iraq on Friday,” said Elmer Cato, chargé d’affaires of the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad.
“We will be taking the earliest flight on Saturday to allow us to coordinate closely with authorities of the Kurdistan Regional Government in identifying and repatriating the remains of our kababayan,” Cato added.
The incident, he said, is now under investigation. “We would like to extend our deepest sympathy to the families of the victims and will do everything we can to bring them home as soon as possible,” Cato said.
In 2012 the Philippine government lifted the deployment ban on Kurdistan region—an autonomous region in Iraq—amid growing foreign-labor demand, but deployment ban is being enforced by Manila in other parts of the country.
Except for Kurdistan, Manila is imposing mandatory repatriation for Filipino workers living and working in other parts of Iraq, including capital Baghdad, owing to the volatile security environment in the country.
Manila has also banned the deployment of new workers to Iraq because of the prevailing security situation.
The Philippine government has repeatedly cautioned Filipinos in Iraq to exercise extreme caution and to limit their movements, owing to bombings and other violent incidents in the past months.
They are also being urged to register with the embassy so that they could easily be contacted in case of emergency.
Malacañang, meanwhile, said it is saddened by the deaths of 14 Filipinos in the hotel fire in Iraq and said it is working with Iraqi authorities to bring home the remains of the fatalities.
Communications Undersecretary Manuel L. Quezon said the Palace received an update from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), saying it already dispatched personnel, through the help of the United Nations, to go to the site and assess what government help could be extended.
“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.
“And so we would like to, of course, get more details and do everything that is possible to bring our countrymen home and, of course, to look at every possibility to assist their families at this time of sadness and need.”
Quezon, however, 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.