MANILA: Philippine authorities are preparing to bring home seven Filipino nationals injured in last weekend’s deadly Houthi strike in Riyadh, the Department of Migrant Workers has said.
Filipinos are among more than 300 people injured when a Houthi missile struck King Khalid International Airport last weekend, killing at least 13 people.
According to Philippine Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac, four have been discharged from the hospital, while the rest are still in intensive care.
“Three are still in the ICU. Two of them are close to being discharged from the ICU and to be transferred to a regular ward. However, one remains in critical condition — (he) underwent two surgeries and both were successful, so hopefully he’s now on his way to recovery,” Cacdac said during an interview on Thursday with state-owned radio network Radyo Pilipinas.
“We’ll arrange (their repatriation) as soon as possible because they need to be with their loved ones. We’ll facilitate this depending on their medical condition and clearance to travel.”
The Philippine government is also aiding overseas Filipino workers seeking repatriation, as many were affected by the cancellations of flights in recent days due to the temporary closure of the main airport in Riyadh.
So far, 149 Filipino nationals in Saudi Arabia “have already been processed and are ready for repatriation,” the migrant workers department said in a statement issued on Friday, adding that the government-arranged flights to Manila would be free of charge.
“Meanwhile, an additional 50 OFWs from Riyadh, including those in the shelter and stranded workers, are scheduled to return home next week,” it said.
Saudi Arabia hosts the largest number of overseas Filipino workers and was their top destination in 2025, according to the latest Philippine government data. Over 24 percent, or more than 494,000, who sought work abroad chose the Kingdom last year, driven in part by the Saudi Vision 2030 economic diversification program.
At a press briefing on Monday, Cacdac highlighted how the Kingdom “has kept Filipinos safe” for a long time, not only since the war in the Middle East broke out in late February.
“We’re talking decades of protection afforded by the Kingdom to Filipino workers in Saudi,” he said.