The Filipino earlier declared safe following the earthquake and tsunami that hit the city of Palu in Indonesia is now missing, the Philippine Consulate in Manado said on Monday, October 1.
In an interview with ANC, Consul General Oscar Orcine said that the unidentified Filipino was among the detainees who escaped the Bureau of Corrections’ building which was damaged by the earthquake and tsunami.
“I visited him last month. He was in good health. But after this incident, we are continuing our efforts to search for him, to make sure that he is safe,” Orcine said.
Earlier, some 1,200 detainees from three different detention facilities in Indonesia were able to escape following the onslaught of the natural disasters. In some cases, the detainees were able to escape through the facilities’ collapsed walls while others escaped by initiating a fire causing havoc within the building.
For his part, Orcine clarified that the information released by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) declaring the Filipino, who was the only Filipino in the city of Palu when the natural disasters happened, “was the earlier information we got from a corrections officer.”
“However, as I said, early this morning, at 6 o’clock, we were informed that…all of the detainees have escaped because the building was destroyed by the earthquake and the tsunami,” Orcine added.
As of 2 p.m. (Manila time), the number of people killed due to the earthquake and tsunami had risen to 844 while nearly 50,000 people have been displaced. Most of the victims were from Palu.
Authorities said that this number is still expected to rise once other coastal towns are properly assessed.
“Besides, there are still many bodies who have not been identified. The victims remain under rubble or wrecked buildings, their number is still a lot. Many hit-areas have not been reached out by a joint rescue team. So that the number of victims is likely to increase,” spokesman of the national disaster management agency, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told a press conference at his office.
A 7.5 magnitude quake immediately followed by a tsunami as high as 6 meters (20 feet) hit Indonesia on Friday, September 29. A mass burial for those killed will be held.
NOTE: Photo featured in the article was taken from China Global Television Network
