THE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is targeting to bring home the 274 remains of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) this week.
This number is lower than the 301 remains it earlier announced for repatriation, as Philippine authorities raced to comply with a 72-hour deadline given by KSA to bring them home, otherwise, they will be buried in the Kingdom.
Of the 301 remains, 149 died from natural causes, while the remaining 152 succumbed to Co-vid-19. However, four bodies of those who died from natural causes, were already repatriated by their loved ones, Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said in an online press briefing on Wednesday.
Of those who died from Covid-19, he said 23 were already buried in KSA.
Bello said they are targeting to bring home the 274 bodies before the deadline set by the Saudi government to repatriate the said remains on Saturday.
“We should be able to bring home the remains by July 4 [2020] or they will be buried by the Saudi government,” Bello said.
“So we are doing our best to meet all the protocols for the exit visa, permission from the employers, and kin [of the OFWs] before July 4,” he added.
For the remains of the Covid fatalities, Bello said stricter sealing and disinfection protocols will be applied while they are being transferred back to the country.
He said the remains will be immediately cremated upon arrival in the country in compliance with the recommendation of the Department of Health (DOH).
Image credits: Roy Domingo