A maid has had to undergo emergency surgery after her abusive Saudi employer forced her to drink household bleach.
Agnes Mancilla, from the Phillipines, was working at the family’s home in the city of Jizan, Saudi Arabia, when the shocking incident happened.
The 35-year-old maid was rushed to the King Fahd Central Hospital by other workers when she lost consciousness after drinking the bleach.
Mancilla reportedly had to undergo an emergency laparotomy, a surgical procedure to remove the bleach from her intestines.
Local media are reporting that doctors also found several burns on the woman’s back. The maid remains in a serious but stable condition in hospital following the operation.
Saudi police have since arrested the maid’s female employer, who was not named in reports.
The Philippine Consul General Edgar Badajos said Mancilla had worked in Saudi Arabia since 2016 and had been ‘repeatedly physically abused by her lady employer.’
Reports suggest the maid’s employer had not paid her a salary for her work.
Badajos added: “We would like to assure our countrymen that we are working closely with authorities in Jizan to make sure that justice will be given to Agnes Mancilla.”
Filipinos make up the fourth-largest group of foreigners in Saudi Arabia and the country is the largest employer of overseas Filipino workers in the world.
(Metro)