Vice President Manuel “Noli” De Castro has said that only two of the 10 bodies of Filipino workers who were among the 16 civilians killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan last month will be repatriated for now.

De Castro said that the bodies of the eight others were severely burned and charred and would need further DNA testing in Maryland, in the United States to identify them.

Based on the report of the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait, only two bodies were recognizable – those of Leopoldo Jimenez and Manolito Hornilla.

The remains of the 10 workers are still in Kuwait, said De Castro.

According to a report given by Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), the 10 identified victims were Marvin Najera; Ely Cariño; Hornilla; Jimenez; Ernesto De Vega; Mark Joseph Mariano; Celso Caralde; Rene D. Taboclaon; Recardo E. Vallejos, and Noli M. Visda.

He said the two remains would be brought home as soon as the embassy completed the processing of their repatriation papers.

De Castro assured the families of the victims that the government would continue to fast track the repatriation of the other remains and help them acquire their claim for benefits from the victims’ employer.

The Filipinos killed had been working at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) base for several years. They did not return to the Philippines because the government had imposed a ban on travel to Afghanistan, making them undocumented workers. There are about 1,500 Filipinos, all working illegally, in Afghanistan, according to De Castro.

Apart from Afghanistan, Filipino workers are not allowed to seek jobs in Iraq, Lebanon, and Nigeria. About 6,000 were thought to be working illegally at military bases across Iraq alone.

Nearly 10 percent of the country's 90 million people work abroad — many as nurses, maids, engineers, construction workers, and seamen.