Filipinos killed in Beirut blasts now at 4, wounded at 31 – DFA

MANILA, Philippines  — Two more Filipinos have been reported killed after powerful explosions struck the Port of Beirut in Lebanon earlier this week.

Citing the latest reports from the Philippine Embassy in Beirut, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the Filipino fatalities due to the blasts are now at 4.

“We are saddened by the latest turn of developments. The higher figure comes as our Embassy personnel work to ascertain the condition of the Filipinos in its jurisdiction,“ DFA Undersecretary Sarah Lou Arriola said in a statement on Friday.

The embassy also reported that the number of injured Filipinos rose to 31.

“Two Filipinos remain in critical condition. They are confined and are being monitored at Rizk Hospital,” Philippine Embassy Beirut Charge d’affaires Ajeet Panemanglor said in the same statement.

Meanwhile, a Filipino household service worker remains missing, according to the DFA.

“Our Embassy officials shall continue to ascertain the condition of our community in Beirut,” Arriola assured.

She also reaffirmed the DFA’s commitment to extend “much-needed support and assistance” to the Filipino community in Beirut “at this hour of need.”

There are approximately 33,000 Filipinos in Lebanon, 75 percent of them in the Greater Beirut area.

A stockpile of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate set off a massive blast that rocked the capital city. The chemical had been left sitting in a warehouse ever since it was confiscated from an impounded cargo ship in 2013.

The explosion, powerful enough to be felt in Cyprus across the Eastern Mediterranean, killed more than 130 people, wounded thousands, and destroyed buildings for miles around. with reports from the Associated Press