An overseas Filipino worker (OFW) has died of cardiac arrest while traveling home to Dumaguete, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) confirmed Wednesday.
The OFW, identified as Wilma Auza, worked in Kuwait and was in transit on 4 August when she collapsed.
OWWA Administrator Patricia Yvonne Caunan said the agency is still gathering information about the case. She noted that Auza was not repatriated but was returning to the Philippines after her employment contract had ended.
“We are finding out because she was not a repatriated worker,” Caunan said. “She came home because of the end of her contract. We are on the ground.”
Reports indicate that a valid Kuwait Civil ID, a passport and P17,000 were found among her belongings. Auza reportedly took a connecting flight from Kuwait to Japan before heading to the Philippines.
Videos circulating on social media showed the OFW unresponsive and slumped in her bus seat.
OWWA said it has already reached out to Auza’s family to offer assistance.
“OWWA has spoken with her family and continues to coordinate with them to convey our deepest condolences, support, and the financial aid allocated to them under existing programs for the welfare of the families left behind by our OFWs,” the agency said in a statement.