Middle East crisis: 2 Filipinos injured in Kuwait, UAE

MANILA, Philippines — At least two Filipinos were injured in separate attacks in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), countries in the Middle East with the most number of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), as the conflict between the US, Israel and Iran escalates.

Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said a Filipina working at a restaurant in the Kuwait International Airport sustained “very minor injuries” after debris from an explosion hit her neck during a drone strike at the airport’s Terminal 1 late in the afternoon of Feb. 28.

She was discharged from hospital the next day, Cacdac said in a briefing in Malacañang on Monday.

In its report, Kuwait-based news website The Times Kuwait identified the victim as 27-year-old Camille Joy Dacanay, assigned to the airport’s food service division.

She was among the at least 32 foreign nationals who were injured during the attack.

READ: DMW: OFW injured in Kuwait airport now safe

Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah visited Dacanay and 12 other victims at Farwaniya Hospital to check on their condition, according to Kuna news agency.

In a statement carried by the Emirates News Agency (WAM) on March 1, the UAE Ministry of Defence reported that Filipinos were among the 58 who sustained “minor injuries” after Iranian drones hit civilian areas in the country.

The report, however, did not disclose the exact number of Filipinos who were hurt, and the victims’ identities.

READ: Caregiver first PH casualty in Mideast; gov’t all set for repatriation

There are about 975,000 OFWs in the UAE, while another 211,000 OFWs are in Kuwait. The two Gulf states employ the largest and fourth-largest OFW population in the Middle East, where about 2.5 million Filipinos are currently based.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Monday identified 32-year-old caregiver Mary Ann de Vera as the first Filipino fatality in the ongoing war.

De Vera was killed while helping her elderly ward inside a bomb shelter during a missile attack in Tel Aviv, Israel on the evening of Feb. 28.

While waiting for the opportunity to ensure their safe exit, Marcos urged OFWs in the region to stay put and to keep safe.

He also joined the global call for a ceasefire among countries involved in the ongoing conflict. /gsg