Missing Filipino boy among fatalities in Barcelona attack —DFA



The Department of Foreign Affairs on Monday confirmed that a Filipino was among those who died in the van attack in Barcelona, Spain last Thursday.
According to a report on GMA News TV's News To Go, the DFA said the boy, 7, was first reported missing in the commotion following the attack in Las Ramblas.
However, his body was found and positively identified by his father, said Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, citing information from Chargé d'Affaires Emmanuel Fernandez of the Philippine Embassy in Madrid.
"It pains us to break the sad news to our kababayans that we lost one of our own in the recent violence unleashed by extremists against the innocent in Barcelona," Cayetano said in a statement.
"We join the loved ones of our little brother in mourning his passing and in praying for the eternal repose of his soul."
Cayetano directed Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Sarah Lou Arriola to make sure that all possible assistance is extended to the family of the boy and other Filipino victims of the incident.
Reports said the boy was separated from his mother when the incident happened.
"The mother remains in the intensive care unit of a local hospital after undergoing surgery for fractures in both legs and one arm that she sustained in the incident," the DFA said.
Two other Filipinos were injured in the terror attack.
Also injured in the attack were four Irish citizens of Filipino descent who were also attended to by the Embassy and the Honorary Consulate in Barcelona.
Fourteen people died in the incident after a van plowed through pedestrians at the popular tourist spot. — with Virgil Lopez/KG/KVD/RSJ, GMA News

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