DFA: No Pinoy reported hurt in Mecca crane tragedy

The Department of Foreign Affairs on Saturday said there were no Filipinos hurt in the falling crane accident on Friday that killed at least 107 people at Mecca's Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia.

In a text message, DFA Spokesman Charles Jose told GMA News Online: “Our Consulate General in Jeddah has confirmed that there are no reports so far of Filipinos hurt or killed in the [accident] in Mecca.”

An earlier report also said at least 238 people were wounded in the tragedy taht happened less than two weeks before Islam's annual Hajj pilgrimage.

Saudi Arabia is home to at least a million Filipinos based on latest data from the Commission on Filipinos Overseas.

Many Muslim Filipinos troop to Mecca for the annual pilgrimage. — Andrei Medina/LBG, GMA News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

‘No one left’: Zionist strikes kill entire families in Lebanon --- AFP

Claims of military leaders or equipment present in civilian areas ‘does not justify attacks’: HRW BEIRUT: Qassem Al-Qadhi left his home in east Lebanon this weekend to buy bread for 17 family members, but when he returned they were all dead. A Zionist air strike on Sunday hit the village of Zaboud in the Bekaa valley, killing a whole family, the national news agency NNA said. Qadhi said it was his wife, children and grandchildren. They were killed in an instant. The 57-year-old says the only member of the family who survived was his 25-year-old son Hussein, who had headed off to do his military service just before the strike. “It was 11 am. We were all sitting in front of the house and then I went to buy them bread,” he told AFP by phone. While he was at the bakery he heard a loud explosion, he said. “I tried to call them, then rushed home but there was no one left. Just body parts,” Qadhi said. “Seventeen people — including my son’s fiancee and her mother, my wife, my three sons a...
Read more

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

Africa roads are world’s deadliest despite few cars ---- AFP

ADDIS ABABA: Africa has the fewest roads and cars of any region, and yet the largest ratio of vehicle deaths, caused by the usual suspects — unsafe habits, speeding and drinking — but also poor infrastructure, scant rescuers and old cars. As everywhere, speed, alcohol and not wearing a seat belt or helmet are among the main causes of death and injury, say experts. But in Africa, where there are 620 traffic deaths every day, these problems are compounded by bad roads, outdated vehicles, minimal prosecutions and a shortage of emergency services. A recent World Health Organization report found that Africa surpassed the rest of the world, including Southeast Asia — which recorded the most road deaths — with a record ratio of 19.5 people killed per 100,000 inhabitants in 2021. Home to only around four percent of the world’s automobiles, Africa accounted for 19 percent of road deaths last year. “What is worrying is the upward trend in Africa,” said Jean Todt, a former head of the Internati...
Read more