THE Department of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday said that a Filipino worker was injured by a stray bullet in Sudan, while a Philippine ambassador figured in a car accident on his way to overseeing evacuation efforts in the war-torn country.
DFA spokersperson Teresista Daza said the unidentified Filipino was “wounded in the hand by a stray bullet but he has received treatment,” DFA Spokesperson Teresita Daza told reporters.
“No report on Filipinos killed due to the conflict,” she added.
Meanwhile, Philippine Ambassador to Egypt Ezzedin Tago was on his way to the border between Egypt and Sudan when his vehicle was involved in an accident, Daza said.
“Fortunately he was unharmed. He has returned to Cairo and will be flying to the border to facilitate the entry of Filipino evacuees to Egypt,” she said.
In a separate message, DFA Undersecretary Ed de Vega confirmed that Tago was in the car with Vice Consul Bojer Capati during the accident.
“In their rush to get to border by car to help incoming Filipinos cross through, Ambassador Ezzedin Tago and Vice Consul Bojer Capati got to a car accident where their car rolled over two times,” de Vega told ABS-CBN News in a text message.
“They survived and are still proceeding somehow to border later today. The vice consul is first clearing with hospital now,” he said.
“This is the DFA’s commitment to our Overseas Filipinos and we hope the public can be advised and reassured that we are doing what we can,” he added.
As of Wednesday morning, the DFA has deployed 7 buses carrying around 300 repatriates from Sudan to Egypt, the Undersecretary said.
“The problem is the long processing at Egyptian border taking over a day,” he said.
“Our Embassy is sending teams to try to fix it,” he added.
Daza said getting buses to transport Filipinos out of Sudan was also a challenge.
“Securing buses to transport Filipinos out of Khartoum has been challenging due to the scarcity of bus providers, increasing rental prices,” she said.
The Philippine government’s “efforts to secure more buses continue,” she added.
