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DOLE assures assistance to families of OFWs killed in UAE gas explosion

Philippines | National

DOLE assures assistance to families of OFWs killed in UAE gas explosion

By Leslie Ann Aquino

The families of the two overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were killed in a gas explosion in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates will receive financial assistance from the government.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III (ROBINSON NIÑAL JR. / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said the families of the victims—Clark Bacud Gasis and Merriner Goc-ong Bertoces—will receive P120,000 bereavement assistance each from the government.

“They will also get insurance benefits if they are qualified members of the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration,” he said.

“We will extend to them all the support the government can provide,” Bello added.

A report from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Abu Dhabi said a total of 10 Filipinos, including two children, figured in the deadly accident reportedly caused by a gas leak inside a Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant along Airport Road on August 31.

The explosion instantly killed Gasis, 39, an electrical draftsman from Surigao del Sur and Bertoces, 26, a KFC—Abu Dhabi employee from Negros Oriental.

DoLE said the blast also caused injuries to eight other Filipinos. Six of them were immediately taken to the Sheik Khalifa Medical Center (SKMC) for treatment. Five of the injured have already been discharged while Rodel Paclibar remains at the hospital for further observation.

When visited and interviewed by POLO officials at SKMC, Paclibar, also a KFC-Abu Dhabi staff, said he was relaying to his supervisor the condition of the gas tank when the blast happened.

POLO officers also gathered that two Filipino children—a two-month old and three-month old--were also hurt in the incident but are now out of danger.

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