75 Filipinos at deportation centre

There are 65 females, five males, and five babies born out of wedlock at Qatar’s deportation centre, an embassy spokesman has said. There are also 23 females and three babies interred at the Central jail. Two males are also jailed there, the mission’s spokesman said.

There are 20 Philippines’ nationals jailed in other locations, such as the Capital Police, Rayyan, Um Salal, Industrial area, al-Sadd, Khalifa town, he said.

According to the records of Manila’s embassy, 37 Filipinos died in Qatar in the first six months of this year, of which 26 died of “cardiac arrest”.

Diplomatic sources said the mounting heat in Qatar could be the reason behind the statistic, beside problems at home.
In May alone, five Filipinos died of cardiac arrest and the same number in June, which goes in line with the suggestion that heat could be the reason for the phenomena.

A diplomat in the embassy said that statistics of the ongoing July were not complied yet, “but the numbers of cardiac arrest cases among our citizens is horrible and the month has not yet finished.”

Published: Friday, 27 July, 2007, 01:14 AM Doha Time