PAL offers to help fly Israel bomb victims home

7 August 2002

Philippine Airlines chairman Lucio Tan today offered to assist in repatriating the bodies of two Filipino victims of the recent suicide bus attack in Israel.

Tan said PAL would facilitate the transport to Manila of the remains of Adelina Cunanan and Rebecca Ruga, and assist in arranging the travel to Israel of the victims' immediate family if such is required by the repatriation process.

"In times of tragedy like this, PAL stands ready to help our countrymen wherever they may be. This is part of our duty as the nation's flag carrier," said Tan.

Cunanan and Ruga, who were both working in Israel as caregivers, were among eight people killed Sunday when a bomb tore through the bus they were riding in Northern Israel.

PAL has frequently been called upon to repatriate Filipinos from crisis-torn lands. During the lead-up to the 1990 Persian Gulf war, PAL airlifted home thousands of Filipino workers stranded in Jordan.

The flag carrier also flew home Filipino expatriates caught by the civil strife in Cambodia in 1997 and Indonesia in 1998.