Two Filipino maids may have died from heat-related causes in late July and early August in Hong Kong, according to Labor Attaché Nida Romulo, the head of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office.
The two women were found dead in the toilets at their employers’ residences, the sunwebhk.com reported.
Welfare officer Lorna Obedoza of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration said the first victim was a 62-year-old from La Union. She had been in Hong Kong since 2007 and was found dead in the bathtub at her employer’s house in the Mid-Levels on Hong Kong Island on July 28.
The second victim was a 54-year-old from Ilocos, who had been working in Hong Kong since 2006. She was found dead on Friday morning. Her employer found on the floor in the toilet in a Tseung Kwan O flat in the New Territories.
However, Romulo said police had been unable to confirm if the deaths were weather-related. It is believed that neither woman had any chronic disease and both died after fainting in the bathrooms, the Hong Kong Economic Times reported.
Police said they believed the two cases happening at the same time were just a coincidence, adding that they happened at night and indoors when temperature were lower. Police said they doubted claims by Philippine officials that the women’s deaths were heat-related.
Police said the cause of the deaths will be determined by an autopsy.
The Hong Kong Observatory has issued a Very Hot Weather warning almost daily for the past two months, with temperatures of 33 degrees Celsius in urban areas in the past week.
Meanwhile, two other Filipino women were taken to hospital on Tuesday after feeling unwell in the offices of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Mass Mutual Tower in Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island.
Romulo said the two were diagnosed with high blood pressure and heat exhaustion.
They might be very tired, stress at work ,hungry and have a little rest. I have experienced the same thing because of those reasons. Thank god i did not die and my employer are now nice.