The remains of two of 10 Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who died in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan last July 19 arrived on Tuesday at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on board Kuwait Air QR 646.

Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Administrator Carmelita Dimzon said the remains of Manolito Hornilla of Taysan, Batangas, and Leopoldo Jimenez of Lubao, Pampanga, were met by respective families at the airport on Tuesday.

Dimzon said that she had instructed OWWA officials to inform the families of the arrival of Hornilla and Jimenez.

She said the two were the first repatriated because their bodies were not submitted for a DNA analysis at Maryland, USA.

The bodies of the two victims were found at the crash site with their identification card and passport.

The OWWA said it still could not say when the bodies of the eight other victims could be expected back home. The bodies are still in Maryland undergoing DNA analysis.

These are the remains of Ely Cariño, Marvin Najera, Celso Q. Caralde, Ernesto C. De Vega, Recardo E. Vallejos, Mark Joseph C. Mariano, Rene D. Taboclaon, and Noli M. Visda.

Dimzon said that the US-based employer AIM Group Inc. of the OFWs coordinated with the Embassy and Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO-OWWA) authorities for the repatriation of the bodies of Hornilla and Jimenez.

The OWWA will be providing airport assistance to the remains of the victims from Meascor in going back to the country.

The 10 OFWs were among the 16 passengers on board the civilian M18 chopper that crashed minutes after takeoff in Kandahar, Afghanistan last July 19.

Dimzon said they were considered as undocumented workers by OWWA because they left the country as tourists bound for Dubai.

She said that their records showed that the said OFWs were deployed to work in the Middle East in 2004 and returned to the country after finishing their contract.

However, they again left the country last July and slipped in going to Afghanistan using Dubai as their entry point.

The workers defied the government ban on deployment of OFWs to war countries including Afghanistan.