PMA asks help for family of Filipino doctor killed in China car crash

Chinese paramilitary policemen and uniformed policemen, in blue, seal off a pavement leading to Tiananmen Gate, following a car fire in Beijing Monday, Oct. 28, 2013. AP PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Medical Association (PMA) president Dr. Leo Olarte, in a radio interview on Tuesday, confirmed the identity of the Filipino doctor killed in a car crash in China and asked that the government help her injured husband and children.

“Ako ay nananawagan sa ating gobyerno…na tulungan itong ating kasapi ng PMA, si Dr. Nelson Bunyi at ang kanyang misis na si Dra Bunyi at ang kanyang tatlong anak (I am calling on the government…to help our PMA member Dr. Nelson Bunyi and his wife Dra. Bunyi and his three children),” Olarte said over radio station DZBB.

He said the wife died on the spot while the doctor and his children suffered multiple fractures and who are now confined in a hospital there.

Olarte urged the government to extend assistance to the family, who were in China as tourists, and help bring the body back to the Philippines.

International news agencies on Monday reported that five people were killed and 38 others were injured after a sports utility vehicle allegedly ploughed into a crowd of tourists in Tiananmen Square in Beijing before it exploded. Initially thought to be an accident, new reports say it may have been intentional, with authorities linking it to the restive Uighur community in northwest China.

A US news article who quoted Bunyi said the family was walking on the sidewalk when they saw the vehicle head towards their direction.

Bunyi said the car was “coming very, very fast” and they were not able to run. He said he fell to the ground and saw only smoke.

INQUIRER.net tried to contact Olarte for more information on the family but has yet to receive a response.

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