Four Filipinos hurt in attack on Saudi Arabia airport

The Philippine Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) confirmed on Sunday that four Filipino workers were hurt during Saturday's attack. 

According to a report of the Philippine News Agency (PNA), Labor Attache Dominador Salangga said three of the Filipino victims remain in intensive care units, while one is scheduled for discharge. No Filipinos were killed.   

The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) have published hotlines for overseas workers and families seeking assistance:

Riyadh / Central Region

Philippine Embassy (Assistance to Nationals): +966 56 989 3301

Migrant Workers Office (MWO): +966 50 285 0944 | mwo_riyadh@dmw.gov.ph

OWWA Riyadh: +966 50 285 0944 | welfare_riyadh@owwa.gov.ph

Jeddah / Western Region

Philippine Consulate General: +966 55 521 9613 / +966 55 521 9614

Migrant Workers Office (MWO): +966 56 981 9720 | mwo_jeddah@dmw.gov.phO

WWA Jeddah: +966 54 473 7797 | jeddah@owwa.gov.ph

Al Khobar / Eastern Region

Migrant Workers Office (MWO): +966 56 232 9926 | mwo_alkhobar@dmw.gov.ph

OWWA Al Khobar: +966 56 232 9926 | alkhobar@owwa.gov.ph

Confirmed fatalities

Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation said the confirmed fatalities are from the following countries:

Saudi Arabia: 4

Bangladesh: 2

United States: 1

Egypt: 1

Jordan: 1

Syria: 1

Palestine: 1

Sudan: 1

India: 1

Another round of attacks

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that a fresh wave of projectile and drone strikes hit King Khalid International Airport on Sunday, October 11, killing one person and wounding 11 others. 

The attack occurred just a day after a devastating strike at the same airport killed 13 people and injured over 300, marking the deadliest assault on Saudi soil in over a decade.

Saudi-led coalition forces in Yemen said an unidentified projectile had targeted Riyadh's international airport Terminal 4 on Sunday, causing a fire. Eleven people were wounded in addition to the fatality, the Saudi civil aviation authority said.

Coalition forces also said Saudi air defences had intercepted a cruise missile in the vicinity of King Khalid International Airport. 

They later added that a drone had been intercepted and destroyed in the country's Eastern Province, and a ballistic missile launched towards Khamis Mushait had been intercepted. Emergency alerts were also issued in Abha, in the south, early on Monday but the danger had since passed, the Saudi Civil Defense said.

The strikes have exposed vulnerabilities in Saudi defence capabilities as the kingdom wages an air campaign against the Houthis, who are fighting a ground war in Yemen against the Saudi-backed Yemeni government.

Footage released by Saudi state television of the Saturday attack on the Riyadh airport showed scores of religious pilgrims lined up at a gate as they prepared to travel to Islam's two holiest sites. A bright orange flash sent people running in panic, while parts of the roof appeared to cave in.

The airport was closed after the attack, the deadliest in the kingdom in more than a decade.

Houthis claim responsibility

In a televised speech on Sunday, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack and said the group had also struck the airport in Dammam in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province and two facilities of Saudi oil giant Saudi Aramco 2222.SE.

The Saudi government's media office and Aramco did not respond to requests for comment.

The Saudi civil aviation authority confirmed the strike on Dammam's King Fahd International Airport late on Sunday, adding that "damage assessments and safety inspections of airport facilities are under way."

An eyewitness aboard a taxiing aircraft at Dammam told Reuters that around 8:30 p.m. (1730 GMT) on Sunday, they saw a projectile strike the tarmac beside several parked aircraft, causing a fire. The witness said the aircraft returned to the gate. Passengers disembarked and were told to leave.

Flight-tracking website Flightradar24 showed several delays and cancellations on Sunday for arrivals and departures at Dammam airport, the kingdom's third-largest.

The Houthis earlier on Sunday had ‌renewed their warning against using Saudi airports. "We urge everyone to take our warnings seriously, and Saudi Arabia bears responsibility for any failed interceptions," the group said.

Britain's embassy in Saudi Arabia in a post on X advised British citizens against all but essential travel to Jeddah, Dammam and all airports in the kingdom except the airport in Medina.

US aviation authorities issued a notice to US airlines to use caution while flying to or over the kingdom.

'Worse is yet to come,' Houthis warn

Saudi Arabia has recently stepped up its military involvement in Yemen, launching strikes against the Houthis and backing a government counteroffensive after the Houthis seized strategic territory along the Red Sea coast last month.

The Houthis said on Sunday that Saudi Arabia carried out 124 air strikes in Yemen in the past 24 hours. "Unless the Saudi enemy stops its aggression and interference in Yemen, worse is yet to come, God willing," Yemen's Houthi-run foreign ministry said in statements carried by Al Masirah television.

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday the United States was considering joining Saudi strikes on the Houthis in the conflict, a spillover from the wider war with Iran that the US and Israel launched in February.

In a post on Telegram, Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said he told his Saudi counterpart that Tehran was ready to help facilitate dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

ENERGY CONFERENCE STILL GOING AHEAD

A five-day conference of international energy organization WPC Energy opened as planned on Sunday at a convention centre about 10 km (6 miles) from the Riyadh airport, the Saudi energy ministry said.

A ministerial meeting of the International Energy Forum also went ahead, according to a media advisory from the ministry. It was not clear which ministers attended.

Italy's energy minister, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, whose country was co-hosting, had said on Friday he would participate remotely via video link.

German officials were trying to organise a return flight for economy minister Katherina Reiche. She was supposed to return to Berlin from Riyadh on Monday but the ministry said it appeared likely her flight would be unable to take off.

Separately, Saudi authorities announced that in-person classes at schools in Riyadh would be shifted to remote learning from Sunday until Thursday.

Sunday's attack brought the death toll in attacks on Riyadh's airport to 18 for the week. In Saturday's attack, the dead included four Saudis while the remainder were foreign nationals, Saudi authorities said.

Paraluman News/ Philippine News Agency and Reuters (Reporting by Jana Choukeir and Maha El Dahan in Dubai, Timour Azhari Riyadh, Menna Alaa El-Din and Yasmine Ghania in Cairo, James Mackenize and Sarah El Safty; Writing by Jan Wolfe and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Andrew Mills, Gareth Jones, Edmund Klamann and Lincoln Feast)