Dubai bus crash victim’s body to be flown home

Dubai: The remains of the Filipina who died in the Dubai bus crash in Rashidiya during the Eid holidays was scheduled to be repatriated on Thursday night, officials said.

Marie January Ventura Gallardo’s body will be flown home to the Philippines — a week after the accident — on Philippine Airlines Flight PR659 from Dubai. Gallardo’s younger brother will accompany his sister’s remains and the family will receive them in Manila on Friday, Philippine Consul-General Paul Raymund Cortes told Gulf News.

Gallardo, 37, was identified by her younger brother early morning on Monday after arriving in Dubai at midnight. She left behind two children.

Gallardo was on the tourist bus from Muscat, Oman, that crashed onto a height barrier in Dubai on June 6, claiming the lives of 17 of the 31 people on board.

The victim was working as a physical therapist in Jalaan Bani Bu Hassan in South Sharqiyah in Oman for one year. An Omani resident, Gallardo was travelling to Dubai for the remainder of the Eid holidays to be with her sister-in-law when the accident happened.

Cortes said the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila, through the consulate, shouldered the cost of the shipment of the remains as well as the air tickets for the victim’s next of kin. He also confirmed that Gallardo was registered with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA). OWWA members’ families are entitled to receive death benefits up to 200,000 pesos (Dh14,100) and burial assistance of 20,000 pesos.