Malacañang on Sunday expressed sadness for the death of 14 Filipinos in a hotel fire in Arbil, Iraq and pledged to bring their bodies home while assisting their bereaved kinsmen.
“We are deeply regretful and saddened by the ordeal suffered by our countrymen who died in Iraq during a fire,” said Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr.
“Our Charges d’ Affaires in Iraq, Elmer Cato, is currently in Arbil and coordinating with authorities in order to find out the names of those who died,” said Coloma.
“The government will extend all help needed by the families of the Filipino victims,” Coloma also said.
A fire that hit a hotel in the capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region killed 19 people, 14 of them from the Philippines, Iraqi officials said.
Dozens more were injured and taken to a hospital.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said they are still trying to identify the Filipinos who died in the fire.
“Initial report we received from our embassy in Baghdad says that 14 Filipinos are among the 19 people who died in a fire that struck Capitol Hotel in Erbil, capital of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq,” DFA spokesman Charles Jose said in a statement on Saturday.
The embassy is in touch with Kurdistan Regional Government to ascertain the identities of Filipino victims. [The] acting ambassador [is] flying to Erbil to personally lead the effort,” he added.
On Saturday, Undersecretary Manuel Quezon of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office said the DFA has sent some of its personnel to Arbil.
“We are very sad about this. It’s a terrible way to die. There were many of them and it was, I believe, in a massage center,” Quezon said over dzRB.
“We would like to get more details and do everything that is possible to bring our countrymen home and, of course, to look at every possibility to assist their families at this time of sadness and need,” he said.