DOLE to look after families of Taiwan casualties

Rescue teams at a collapsed bridge in Nanfangao harbor in northeastern Taiwan. (AFP)

Scholarship benefits for the orphaned children and other appropriate benefits await the kin of three overseas Filipino workers (OFWS) who died after being crushed by a bridge in Taiwan that collapsed Tuesday morning.

Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello III has also instructed DOLE officials in Taiwan to facilitate the repatriation of the remains of Andree Abregana Serencio, Gorge Jagmis Impang and Romulo Ilustrisimo Escalicas.

Five other OFWs, Julio S. Gimawa, Jason N. Villaruel, Allan H. Alcansano, John Vicente Royo and June B. Flores, sustained injuries while on board a fishing vessel crushed by a collapsed bridge in Nanfang-ao, Yilan County.

Philippine Overseas Labor Office officials visited the injured at the hospital and provided their immediate needs and personal requirements.

Structural defects most likely caused the incident.