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AN
expert at the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI),
Reynaldo Santos Jimenez, 49, succumbed to a heart attack
at the Vienna International Airport on July 6.
Jimenez,
senior science research specialist at PNRI’s nuclear
training center and who has been working with the agency
for 22 years, was on his way to attend an International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Regional Training Course to
train trainors on cyber platform development and course
operation at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna from July 7
to 11.
Jimenez’s body will be repatriated to the Philippines on
Tuesday, July 15.
Jimenez
is survived by his wife, Maria Lourdes, and three
children: Tristan, 21, a nursing graduate; Oliver, 19, a
business administration student; and Monique, 17, a
hotel and restaurant management student.
Dr.
Alumanda de la Rosa, PNRI director, told the
BusinessMirror that Jimenez complained to fellow
Filipino passengers of KLM via Amsterdam that he was
not feeling well when he was waiting for his luggage at
the baggage-claim counter of the airport about 10 p.m.,
Vienna time. He later collapsed. The airport first-aid
team tried but failed to revive him.
De la
Rosa said he succumbed to ventricular fibrillation. The
Americanheart.org said it is a “very serious” condition,
wherein “collapse and sudden cardiac death will follow
in minutes unless medical help is provided immediately.”
It is
characterized with “the heart’s electrical activity
becoming disordered.” Americanheart.org adds: “When this
happens, the heart’s lower [pumping] chambers contract
in a rapid, unsynchronized way. [The ventricles
‘flutter’ rather than beat.] The heart pumps little or
no blood.”
De la
Rosa said the IAEA said this was the first time a
participant in its training died, adding that its
trainees only had minor illnesses.
The PNRI
chief said a Filipino co-airline passenger of Jimenez,
David de los Angeles Jr., who witnessed the incident,
immediately called from Vienna the Department of Science
and Technology (DOST) office in Manila and the PNRI, and
informed them about Jimenez’s sudden death.
De la
Rosa said the case of Jimenez is not a simple case of
the repatriation of the body of a Filipino who faced his
untimely death abroad. She said it showed the immediate
actions of the Philippine and foreign agencies, and how
expatriate Filipinos attend to a compatriot in great
need.
She
cited the swift actions of the Philippine Embassy in
Vienna, headed by Ambassador Linglingay Lacanlale and
Consul Jose Ignacio, and the IAEA, especially Dr. Peter
Salema, the nuclear watchdog’s director for Asia, on
attending to Jimenez’s situation led to his immediate
repatriation.
“If not
for their support, Rey’s [Jimenez] body might not be
home yet on Tuesday. It might take maybe a month before
his body is flown home,” she said.
She also
said the same of former PNRI director and IAEA
consultant Dr. Carlito Aleta and former PNRI expert
Emerenciana Duran, now with the Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty Organization, who are based in
Vienna. Both Aleta and Duran coordinated with the
Philippine Embassy and the IAEA on Jimenez’s behalf. The
embassy was also in constant contact with Jimenez’s
family in the Philippines.
De la
Rosa said the Philippine Embassy contacted IAEA on how
they can work together to repatriate Jimenez’s body,
which would cost $10,880 (around P495,584). The DOST
also expressed readiness to extend assistance to cover
costs. But the IAEA decided to advance the payment for
the repatriation.
Jimenez
was covered by an insurance provided by the IAEA to its
training participants. The insurance covers body
repatriation cost of $7,500 in case of death and family
indemnity of $25,000. The almost $4,000 balance from the
insurance repatriation cost will be taken from the
family indemnity, leaving the family about $21,000.
De la
Rosa said it also pays to have many Filipino staff at
the IAEA—around 100, including Concepcion "Bong" Segura,
the secretary of Dr. Salema—who helped coordinate the
actions to help Jimenez. She also cited the Filipinos
who Jimenez met at the airplane on his way to Vienna who
attended to him at the airport.
The
Filipino employees at the Vienna International Center,
where the IAEA is based, also “passed the hat” for
Jimenez’s family. |
