Manila: Eighth overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were confirmed dead in the four-day hostage crisis at the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria, a senior official said.
“We received this news on Thursday night... Most of the Filipinos died of gunshot wounds or were fatally injured in explosions,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Raul Hernandez said in a radio interview.
“We have the names of the victimsd, but we cannot disclose them since their families wanted privacy,” Hernandez said, adding that only one OFW remained missing.
All the OFWs who died worked for British Petroleum, Japan Gas Corporation and a French company that was not identified, Hernandez said.
Sources said that in all nine OFWs may have been killed, following reports that 26 OFWs worked at In Amenas, and 17 others survived the hostage-crisis that ended last week.
The four injured OFWs who were confined at Al Azhar Clinic in Algiers are “now in stable condition”, Hernandez said.
Four more OFWs are still waiting for their travel papers to be processed, and four more arrived home last week.
Another source said that five OFWs were not at work, some of them were still on vacation when the incident occurred.
