The remains of Filipino UN worker Gene Luna, who was killed in an terrorist attack in Algeria last week, will arrive in Manila Wednesday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.
DFA spokesman Claro Cristobal said the body of Luna, a finance officer for the UN World Food Program, will arrive at Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) at 7:40 p.m. via Lufthansa 788.
Luna, 48, was killed along with dozens of people after the Al-Qaeda attacked the UN offices in Algiers through a double car bomb explosion last Dec. 12.
Luna, who served as finance officer for five years for the WFP, the UN's lead agency in the fight against hunger, had been serving her new post in Algiers for one week when the attack occurred.
More than 800 Filipinos are employed in the UN Secretariat in New York alone plus an undetermined number serving in various UN agencies and peacekeeping missions all over the world.
Luna is the second Filipino to die in a terrorist attack while serving under the UN flag.
In August 19, 2003, Ranilo Buenaventura, a staff member of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, was among the 22 people killed by a car bomb that leveled the UN headquarters in Baghdad.
That attack also resulted in the death of top UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and seriously injured his Filipina assistant, Marilyn Manuel.
Source: Xinhua
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