3 OFWs injured in Kuwait drone attack recovering
Three overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were among the dozens injured during a drone attack on Kuwait International Airport on June 3 have been sent home to recover after receiving treatment at a hospital.
In a press briefing on Sunday, Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said there were no other Filipino casualties apart from the three who worked at the airport.
“No Filipino fatality during the attack… There are three who [were] injured…. One was taken out of the hospital after smoke inhalation and two were outpatients but they have been sent home as well,” Cacdac said.
The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) chief said one of the victims suffered injuries on her scalp and arm which needed stitches. Another one suffered from smoke inhalation and minor lung congestion.
Both have since returned to their homes in Kuwait to recover, Cacdac said.
Indian national killed
An Associated Press (AP) report said Iranian drones heavily damaged a passenger terminal at Kuwait’s main airport. One person was killed while dozens were wounded, leading to the brief closure of the airfield.
India’s Embassy in Kuwait said the fatality was an Indian national. Authorities said 63 were wounded, including passengers and workers, and some suffered serious injuries.
Kuwait’s Defense Ministry said it destroyed over a dozen missiles and a similar number of drones from Iran.
The airport has since partially reopened, with Kuwait Airways flights resuming at a different terminal, according to civil aviation authorities. No other flights were operating.
Filipinos in Mideast
The strike reinforced the risks to residents and travelers in Gulf countries that had considered themselves relative havens before the United States-Israeli war with Iran.
The exchange of attacks in the Middle East began on Feb. 28, when the United States and Israel struck Iran, which then retaliated by launching attacks on American bases all over the region.
There are around 211,000 OFWs in Kuwait which hosts the fourth-largest population of Filipino workers in the Middle East. There are around 2.5 million Filipinos based in the region.
There have been two Filipinos killed in the ongoing war. The first was 32-year-old caregiver Mary Ann de Vera who was killed on Feb. 28 while bringing her elderly ward to a bomb shelter during a missile attack in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The other was 29-year-old Lucille Jane Gershovich who was killed with her Israeli husband after an Iranian missile hit a building in Haifa, Israel, on April 5.
As of May 24, a total of 10,129 Filipinos have been repatriated from the Middle East, based on the DMW’s records. The figure included almost 8,000 OFWs and 1,779 dependents. —WITH A REPORT FROM AP
