MANILA, Philippines – Chargé d’Affaires Elmer Cato on Wednesday (April 24) reiterated his plea for overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in Tripoli to go home.
Cato reported on his social media post that another Filipino, whom he did not name, was wounded when a mortar round fell and exploded in their compound near the Tripoli International Airport .
He added that the Filipino was working for an oil and gas service provider outside the capital Tripoli.
“Our kababayan is lucky he only sustained a shrapnel wound in his right foot. His Sudanese coworker was not—he was killed in the explosion,” Cato said.
Cato said the incident came only a few days after mortar rounds struck a hospital in Qasr bin Ghashir where 18 Filipino nurses working survived. A few days earlier, six Filipinos were caught in the middle of intense clashes in Ain Zara town and several Filipinos who were taken over by armed men also asked the embassy’s help to convince their employers to move them to safety.
“Some of us may not be lucky the next time rockets or mortars rain in on Tripoli,” the official said.
“So before the fighting intensifies further and before it gets closer to where many of our kababayan are in Tripoli, we plead to them and to their families in the Philippines to please seriously consider our offer to bring them home while we still can,” he concluded.
The Philippine Embassy in Tripoli maintains Alert Level 3 in Tripoli which means voluntary repatriation is taking place.
Thus, the Embassy continues to advise Filipinos in the African country to volunteer themselves for repatriation. – Marje Pelayo
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