DFA confirms Filipino death in quake-hit Myanmar

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Wednesday confirmed the death of one of the four missing Filipinos in Myanmar, who were believed to be trapped in a residential building following a 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck the Southeast Asian country last month.

According to DFA Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Eduardo de Vega, the remains of the said Filipino, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) in Mandalay, Myanmar, “have been positively identified.”

“The family of the deceased Filipino has been so informed. Out of respect for their privacy in this time of grief, we are withholding further information on the matter,” De Vega told reporters in a Viber message.

Earlier in the day, Alvin Aragon confirmed that the remains of his brother, Francis Aragon, a Myanmar-based teacher, had been found.

Aragon, 38, was one of the four missing OFWs who are working as teachers in Mandalay, Myanmar, which is near the Sagaing Region, the epicenter of the 7.7 magnitude earthquake on 28 March.

De Vega said efforts to find the three remaining missing Filipinos are ongoing.

“We continue to work and hope for the best for the remaining three Filipinos still unaccounted for as a result of the powerful earthquake which hit Myanmar last 28th of March,” he said.

On Tuesday evening, Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said that 148 people remained missing from the 28 March quake as fatalities hit 3,645, with 5,017 people injured.