PH Embassy Identifies Iraq Fire Victims, Confirms Only 13 Filipino Fatalities
MANILA: A team of the Philippine embassy officials in Baghdad is identifying the victims as they have confirmed 13 Filipino fatalities in Friday’s hotel fire and not 14 as reported earlier, media reports said.
The fire, which struck the basement of the Capitol Hotel in Erbil – capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, also left 6 others dead, reported Rappler.
A team from the Philippine embassy, led by chargé d’affaires Elmer Cato, is in Erbil to identify the Filipino victims and bring their remains home, the report said.
“The victims, all females, were suffocated by the smoke while trying to find their way out in the darkness,” Cato reportedly said in a Facebook post.
“We are trying our best to identify the victims and we are hoping that we could finish the difficult process by tomorrow [Sunday] so that we could immediately reunite them with their loved ones in the Philippines.”
Cato was also quoted as saying that the Kurdistan regional government has ruled out terrorism in the incident.
Initial investigation showed that faulty wiring triggered the deadly blaze, reported Rappler.