Pinay nurses safe after rocket blast in Libya


January 11, 2020
 

By

Cristina Lee-Pisco
 
People's Journal

THIRTY-ONE Filipino nurses are all safe after a rocket exploded in a hospital where the Filipinos and their dependents are working, the Philippine Embassy in Libya said.

Embassy Charge d’Affaires Elmer Cato said the attack happened on Friday, about 5 kilometers away from the Philippine Embassy.
None of the 31 have requested repatriation but Cato said there were 11 others who have sought the Embassy’s assistance so they could go back home.
On Friday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) appealed to Filipinos in Tripoli living in areas where fighting is taking place to evacuate their homes or request repatriation.
The DFA issued the appeal after the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli reported that another five Filipinos were displaced by the ongoing hostilities that have moved closer to the center of the Libyan capital.
Cato said the five nurses fled a housing compound in Tarik Shuk District after it was struck by an artillery shell on Wednesday.
On the same day, an artillery shell exploded just behind a clinic in Salahuddin District where eight nurses, who were rescued by the Embassy last week, were working.
More than 30 Filipinos have so far evacuated their homes since fighting reached some populated areas of Tripoli last week.
Cato said around 400 Filipino nurses and other hospital workers, university professors, and oil company employees and their dependents living or working in several areas near the fighting are at risk.

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