Safe At Last! 22 OFWs Arrive From Afghanistan Via London

Twenty-two Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who joined British soldiers on their withdrawal from Afghanistan arrived in the country Wednesday, Aug. 25, onboard Philippine Airlines flight PR721 from London.

- Ariel Fernandez And Jaleen Ramos

The Philippine government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, arranged and coordinated their journey back to Manila.

An OFW in Afghanistan shared how they evaded gunshots and tear gas to get to safer grounds after the Taliban overran the country.

Rio Fabe said his team immediately rushed to the airport after they were informed that they had to leave Afghanistan.

Nagkaron na ng shutdown ng communication. So yun, ang signal — namatay na ang internet, naisolate na ang Afghanistan. (There was a communication shutdown. So that's the signal — the internet was down. Afghanistan was already isolated). The military advised us to just pack our things, flown sa vehicle, and then move, Fabe told CNN Philippines Wednesday.

Fabe and his fellow Filipino workmates were allowed to board a German military plane.

Sa labas ng Kabul, chaotic na. Abnormal na talaga ang traffic, maraming counterflow, mga tao nagmamadali lahat (Outside Kabul, it's chaotic. The traffic is really abnormal. There is a lot of counterflow. People were all in a hurry), he recalled.

But Fabe said he still has no plans of returning to the Philippines.

We might as well stay na lang dito outside the Philippines para madali rin kaming maka-move in case (We might as well just stay here outside the Philippines so we can easily move just in case), he said.