317 Pinoys repatriated from Beirut

BEIRUT – At least 317 Filipinos here in Lebanon’s capital city boarded Philippine Airlines flight PR8681, which departed from Aéroport International de Beyrouth around 5 p.m. on Friday (10 p.m., Manila time), marking the beginning of a long but much awaited journey back home to Manila.

- IRIS GONZALES

The repatriated overseas Filipinos – domestic helpers, chefs, chocolate factory workers and nurses – either lost their jobs because of the economic downturn or were too scared to stay here because of a series of unfortunate events the past couple of months.

Their journey commenced at the Philippine embassy chancery here where their fellow Filipinos sent them off. Lebanon was rocked by a massive explosion last Aug. 4, killing at least 200 people, injuring around 6,000 and leaving around 300,000 homeless.

Two weeks ago, a towering inferno also caused widespread panic in Beirut’s port, just two days after another fire gutted the site of the August explosion.

The Western Asian country is also a COVID-19 hotspot, with cases now at more than 33,900, after recording its highest daily tally of new cases on Friday at 1,143.