By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora | Philippine News Agency
MANILA — The group of Filipino engineers residing near the conflict zone in Libya and who have been incommunicado for the past few days, are all safe and accounted for, a ranking official of the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli reported Thursday.
“After several days of trying, the Philippine Embassy in Libya was finally able to reestablish contact this afternoon with a group of Filipino engineers in a compound outside Tripoli near where heavy fighting has been taking place in past two months. All are safe and accounted for,” Chargé d’ Affaires Elmer Cato said.
The 14 were among the 40 Filipinos in areas where fierce fighting continued to take place. On Tuesday, Cato wrote that the Embassy has lost contact with them.
Cato said the compound was struck by artillery rounds last week that left several foreign workers wounded.
“We have been telling them we are not forcibly repatriating them but just asking them to move to a safer location because they are at grave risk where they presently are,” he told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).
At present, there are around 1,000 Filipinos still in Tripoli. As of May 30, a total of 70 have been repatriated since intense fighting broke out between forces of the UN-backed government in Libya and the Libyan National Army led by Khalifa Haftar
