OWWA names 3 Filipino casualties in Kuwait fire

(UPDATES) THE Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) has released the names of the three overseas Filipino workers that died in a building fire in Mangaf, Kuwait on Wednesday.

OWWA Administrator Arnell Ignacio identified the fatalities as Jesus Oliveros Lopez, Edwin Petras Petilla and Jeffrey Fabrigas Catubay, during Friday's airing of «Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon.»

Ignacio said OWWA representatives have visited the families of the deceased to offer assistance and to facilitate the repatriation of the victims' remains.

Ignacio added that five of the 11 Filipinos working in the burnt building were safe. The two of them, identified as Michael Dizon and Julio Montemayor, were confined in an intensive care unit of a Kuwait hospital, while another, named Mario Bruce, was already discharged from medical care. Ignacio said the five Filipinos unaffected by the blaze were brought to an OWWA shelter.

Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said the repatriation of the remains of the three Filipinos was underway.

«There will be a right time for financial assistance, including insurance proceeds, especially to the families of the deceased, in due time, these will all be given, but the priority at this stage is the repatriation of the remains and the safety and moral well-being of the two in ICU (intensive care unit), and the six who are safe, and they will also be repatriated in due time,» Cacdac said.