Remains of 13 OFWs killed in Iraq hotel fire arrive in Manila

The bodies of the 13 FIlipinas who died in a hotel fire in Iraq's Kurdistan region arrived in the Philippines Saturday evening, a Super Radyo dzBB report said.

The 13 fatalities died of suffocation in the Capitol Hotel fire in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan autonomous region. Their bodies were found in the hotel's basement where they were working.
Initial reports pegged the deceased at 14, though a later report clarified that the government of Kurdistan mistook one of the deceased as a Filipina.
The repatriation of their remains was shouldered by the hotel management and was coordinated with the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the families of the fatalities would be given aid by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
While Iraq is under Crisis Alert Level 4, enforcing mandatory repatriation, Kurdistan is just under Alert Level 1 due to a more "stable security situation" in the autonomous region. — APG, GMA News

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