An overseas Filipino worker who sustained injuries during strikes on American military installations in Kuwait has been treated and discharged from the hospital, Department of Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac confirmed on Tuesday.
“Someone was injured, yes. She works at the airport terminal, and she sustained neck wounds but she’s been discharged [from] the hospital. She is okay, she was discharged on March 1st. She’s back home in Kuwait,” Cacdac told the Inquirer in Filipino.
The airport worker is the second Filipino casualty recorded since the conflict in West Asia escalated. A 32-year-old caregiver from Pangasinan died Monday after a retaliatory strike hit her Tel Aviv apartment. According to the Israeli Embassy, the woman had been helping her patient reach safety when the attack occurred.
Iran launched the strikes against US bases in Kuwait in retaliation for coordinated American and Israeli military operations targeting the country. Agence France-Presse reported smoke rising near the US Embassy compound in Kuwait, though the embassy denied it was affected. Kuwaiti air defenses also mistakenly shot down three American jets during the exchange, and the US Central Command said falling debris from the aircraft struck a fuel container.
More than two million Filipinos live and work across the region. Cacdac told reporters that 80 to 100 OFWs in Dubai and 54 others in Israel have expressed interest in returning home, and the DMW stands ready for mass repatriation once the situation permits.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and a number of Philippine lawmakers have called on all sides to agree to a ceasefire and pursue peaceful negotiations.
