HAFR AL-BATIN, 29 December 2007 — A Filipino welfare officer is fighting for his life due to head injuries he suffered in a road accident near this northern city on Thursday, his colleagues from the Philippine Embassy said yesterday.

Leonardo Eugenio Jr.’s condition was declared by doctors to be still “unstable” a day after he was brought to the King Khaled Military Hospital in Hafr Al-Batin, said Abdulgani “Jimmy” Umag, another welfare officer who was also hurt in the accident.

Umag said he was with Eugenio and three others on an Isuzu Trooper along Lina Road, about 450 kilometers north of Riyadh, when one of their car’s rear tires exploded, causing the vehicle to overturn repeatedly.

The accident happened at about 4:30 p.m. between Hafr Al-Batin and Al-Rafa, about 450 kilometers from Riyadh and about 100 kilometers away from King Khaled Military Hospital.

Umag and the rest were cleared by doctors after being treated of minor injuries but Eugenio remained at the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.

He said Eugenio was unconscious when he was taken to the hospital from the accident site with the help of a Saudi man on a luxury car, who responded to the victims’ call for assistance.

The others in the ill-fated vehicle were driver Taib Dumado, and administrative assistants Mario Agustin and Rene Literal.

This writer witnessed that the car was a total wreck.

Umag and his companions were part of a team sent by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Riyadh to Sakaka City in northern Al Jouf region to attend to concerns of the Filipino community.

Alex Dupee, overall chairman of Agwi group in Sakaka, said they have decided to defer the event in view of the accident.

Dupee was with this writer, along with translator/interpreter Abdullah Umpa and Welfare Officer Lawrence Agcaoili, in another ride.

While Umag and his companions were at the hospital on Thursday, Philippine Labor Secretary Arturo Brion and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) chief Marianito Roque called by cell phone from Manila to express their concern.

Roque assigned Umag and two others to remain in Hafr Al-Batin until Eugenio’s condition stabilizes.