OFWs from Algeria return home

MANILA, Philippines - Thirty-nine overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were evacuated from a gas field attacked by Islamic militants in Algeria returned home yesterday, some with harrowing tales of bombs exploding around them and bullets whizzing by as they rushed to safety.

 The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the OFWs arrived at 4 p.m. at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Two of them were identified as Rolando Mendoza of Lemery, Batangas and Alex Aguja, 58, who worked as an electrical supervisor in the Perofac gas plant, also in Algeria.

Aguja said their employer evacuated them from the area for their own safety, but they were not among the hostages seized by the militants last Wednesday.

Also among the survivors were Ruben Andrada and Jojo Balmaceda.

Andrada told his wife that the militants draped a bomb around his neck “like a necklace” but he and the others were saved when the explosive in their hijacked vehicle failed to explode. Bombs planted in other vehicles, however, blew up.

Balmaceda recalled an explosion hitting his truck. He survived but he suffered a gunshot wound to his head that affected his hearing.

Fifty-two OFWs employed by oil giant British Petroleum at the In Amenas gas plant had been accounted for, but it was still not clear whether there were any Filipinos among the dead, DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said.

The 39 OFWs were flown out of Algeria to Palma de Mallorca in Spain, Gatwick in London and then Dubai.

“Our team in Algeria continues to coordinate with authorities and employers to determine the whereabouts and conditions of other Filipinos working in the gas plant and offer assistance to them, including repatriation to the Philippines,” Hernandez said in a text message to reporters.

Cesar Zacarias Anunciado Vistal, 46, planning engineer of British Petroleum, who was rescued and flown to Germany, will arrive in Manila today.

His wife Rowena said Vistal told her that he was not among the hostages seized by the Islamic militants after they failed to open his room.

Vistal also told his wife that Japanese workers were killed while Filipinos were wounded by the militants.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario sent a team from the Philippine embassy in Tripoli to Algeria to monitor the situation following the Algerian forces’ rescue operation at the gas complex.

The Algerian interior ministry said 23 foreigners were killed after al Qaeda-linked gunmen attacked the In Amenas gas plant in the Sahara desert last Wednesday.

The DFA said an estimated 2,400 Filipinos are working in Algeria.

Meanwhile, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) chief Carmelita Dimzon said the government will be extending counseling assistance to the rescued workers and their families.

She said the OWWA would also provide temporary shelter to some of the OFWs who will have to travel to their home provinces. – With Mayen Jaymalin, Rainier Allan Ronda