Pinoy tourists stabbed dead in Beijing

A Filipino tourist and his daughter were stabbed to death by a Chinese man who ran amuck in a popular tourist spot in Beijing last Tuesday, the Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo immediately ordered the Philippine embassy in China to coordinate closely with Chinese police authorities in the investigation of the murder of Emmanuel Madrigal and his daughter, Regina Mia.

In a report to the DFA, the embassy said Madrigal and his family were touring Tiananmen Square near the mausoleum of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong on the morning of April 19 when the suspect, identified only as Mr. Wang, attacked them.

Reports also said the 25-year-old assailant from Jiangsu Province seriously wounded Madrigal’s wife, Vivian.

Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Jaime Victor Ledda said the Tiananmen branch of the China’s public security bureau has arrested Wang. Police authorities are establishing the motive for the assault.

Romulo has instructed Ledda and the Office of the Undersecretary of Migrant Workers’ Affairs to extend assistance to the Madrigal family.

Ledda said the Asian department of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has given assurances that it would help in providing assistance to the victims.

Manila’s embassy personnel and Chinese tourism and foreign officials have paid the Madrigals a visit at the Peking Union Hospital where they were rushed following the assault.

Ledda however stressed the distraught family and relatives of the victims have requested to be given privacy after their loss. – With AFP