One of at least four Filipino workers injured in an oil platform
explosion in the Gulf of Mexico last weekend is showing signs of
"progress," the Philippine Embassy to Washington said Monday (Manila
time).
Wilberto Ilagan was one of four Filipino
workers being treated for serious burns, even as the embassy belied
reports he was among those who died in the incident.
“To my relatives, to my family, and to my country, I am alive and in
good health. I am burned, but my heart and lungs are healthy,” he said,
according to a news release posted on the embassy's website Monday.
Ilagan requested Dr. Jeffrey Littleton, burn surgeon and chair of the
department of surgery of the Baton Rouge General Hospital, to make his
condition known to his relatives and fellow Filipinos, the embassy said.
The embassy said Philippine Labor Attache Luzviminda Padilla had talked
briefly to Ilagan Saturday night. The embassy told him he was earlier
"erroneously reported" to have died after 35 percent of his body was
burned.
At least one Filipino had been confirmed dead while another was missing, the embassy added.
Citing reports, the Embassy said Ilagan, 50, has been moved out of the
serious list at the Regional Burn Unit of the Baton Rouge General
Hospital in Louisiana.
He and three other Filipinos had been brought there following the incident.
Search, monitoring to continue
The Embassy said the Pentagon has informed the Office of the Defense
and Armed Forces Attache under Brig. Gen. Cesar Yano, that the US Coast
Guard is still monitoring the area.
“We know
that it has been more than 48 hours but we Filipinos always believe in
miracles and we continue to pray that our other kababayan will be found
alive,” Ambassador Jose Cuisia Jr. said.
Cuisia
earlier requested US authorities to resume their search efforts for the
missing Filipino worker after the US Coast Guard suspended the search
Saturday evening.
On the other hand, the embassy
quoted officials of Black Elk Energy as saying its divers will continue
searching for the missing Filipino worker.
Black Elk Energy divers had recovered a body that turned out to be that of the Filipino fatality.
2 in critical condition
The Embassy also cited a statement released by the hospital saying two
of the four Filipino patients remain in critical condition while another
is in serious condition.
It said Ilagan "has demonstrated progress and is in fair condition."
But the Embassy quoted the hospital as saying the four patients are
considered to have major burns, adding they remain in the critical time
window that follows major burn injuries.
"They
are under the care of a team of specialists led by Dr. Flip Roberts,
Chief Medical Officer, and Dr. Jeffrey Littleton, Burn Surgeon and Chair
of the Department of Surgery," the embassy said.
PHL officials assisting Pinoy workers
Meanwhile, the Embassy said Philippine officials arrived in Louisiana
Sunday to assist Ilagan and the other Filipinos who figured in the
explosion and fire.
Cuisia said Deputy Consul
General Orontes Castro Jr. of the Philippine Consulate General in
Chicago and Welfare Officer Saul de Vries and Assistant Labor Officer
Oliver Flores of the Embassy in Washington arrived in New Orleans on
Sunday afternoon (Monday morning in Manila).
“Our officials are now on the ground in New Orleans and will soon be on
their way to Baton Rouge to extend the necessary assistance to the
affected workers,” Cuisia said.
He said the
three officials will meet with the doctors at Baton Rouge General
Hospital, the other Pinoys who survived the accident, representatives of
Gulf Isle Shipyard Inc. and Black Elk Energy.
9 Pinoy workers
The Embassy said the nine Filipinos working on the oil platform at the
time of the incident are believed to be among an estimated 162 welders,
fitters, scaffolders and riggers hired in the Philippines to work in
offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. –KG, GMA News
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