Batch of 40 distressed OFWs arrive from Jeddah

Another batch of undocumented Filipinos, who were among the hundreds of Filipino workers and their families who stayed at a camp outside Manila’s consulate in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, arrived home Sunday morning.

According to Mao dela Cruz's report on radio dzBB, the 40 Filipinos, 18 of them minors, arrived at 6:47 a.m. on Emirates Airline flight 336, and was met and assisted by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration's repatriation team.

The distressed Filipinos were also met by the Bureau of Quarantine at the airport, the report added.

Some of the Filipinos came home with illness because of their exposure to the searing desert sun and limited space while camping outside the consulate in Jeddah.

The camp-out started in Jeddah on April 11 amid Saudi’s enforcement of its get-tough policy on undocumented foreigners, which has so far led to thousands of arrests and deportations.

The number of request for assistance by undocumented Filipinos has already reached 5,769 in Jeddah and 3,390 in Riyadh. — Amanda Fernandez /LBG, GMA News

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