The Philippine Embassy in Tokyo is still trying to reach out to Japan Airlines to check if there are Filipinos onboard its aircraft that caught fire on Tuesday.

Philippine Ambassador to Japan Mylene Garcia-Albano said Wednesday, Jan. 3, that her office has "not been able to get that information despite persistent effort to reach out to Japan Airlines and Haneda Airport Police."

"We've actually been able to contact them since 7 o'clock yesterday until 11 o'clock, and ang information lang po nila sa amin is (and the information that they gave us was) they are not able to give out that information because of privacy issues," Albano said in an interview with CNN Philippines.

But the country's envoy there said the embassy remains persistent in reaching out to relevant parties as there might be Filipinos onboard whose travel document might have been burned and need a new one.

A total of 379 passengers of Japan Airlines flight number 516 from Hokkaido to Tokyo managed to flee from their burning aircraft upon landing after it collided with another plane and burst into flames.

Meanwhile, five were killed on the other plane that was actually being operated by Japan Coast Guard to bring earthquake relief goods.

The Philippine embassy has already posted an advisory saying that Filipinos onboard flight 516 who need assistance may contact the Assistance-to-Nationals Unit at (+81) 80-4928-7979.

Source:
courtesy of MANILA BULLETIN

by JOSEPH PEDRAJAS

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