MANILA, Philippines – A total of 58 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who fled Libya made it safely through the Egyptian border on Saturday.
The first batch to arrive at the Philippine Embassy in Cairo, Egypt was composed of 13 OFWs.
Most of them were engineers working for a Korean construction firm.
They were welcomed at the embassy by Philippine Ambassador, Eduardo Pablo Maglaya.
“They should be leaving anytime this afternoon via Gulf Air. They should be arriving in Manila tomorrow, Sunday,” reported ABS-CBN Middle East Bureau chief Danny Buenafe.
The second batch of evacuees were 45 OFWs who worked from two separate construction firms in Libya.
Buenafe reported that the second batch are currently working on their travel documents and could be repatriated to Manila on Monday.
He said the Philippine Embassy is expecting more evacuees to break through the Egyptian border in the coming days.
“According to Ambassador Maglaya, from the border dito sa Egypt, they expect another batch, at least 51 [OFWs] by Monday,” said Buenafe.
Harrowing ordeal
Buenafe said most of the evacuees shared harrowing tales about their situation in Libya.
“Talagang grabe daw talaga ang sitwasyon and they said that the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) should now act fast, intensify efforts to repatriate the Filipinos, dahil talagang nakikita nila na talagang exposed sila sa hostilities within the Libyan border,” he said.
None of the evacuees were able to bring their passports, which were kept by their employers.
“’Yung employers tumakas na rin, ‘yung iba naman hindi nakabalik because yung mga branches of their offices are quite distanced from where the [OFWs] were situated as a group sa Benghazi, [Libya],” explained Buenafe.
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