The three overseas Filipino workers earlier reported missing in Iraq have been found, a local television of Manila reported Saturday.

Al Jeri trucking company, a major Saudi Arabia-based trucking companies delivering fuel for the reconstruction of Iraq, has confirmed the status of the three Filipino truck drivers, the ABS-CBN new channel reported, quoting Rasheed Fabricante, a Philippine embassy official in Saudi Arabia, as saying.

The three Filipinos are among some 40 truck drivers reportedly stranded in Baghdad due to the unavailability of police escorts and the closure of the Iraqi border with Saudi Arabia.

They were reported missing on Thursday, days after Iraqi gunmen took hostage and threatened to kill another Filipino, Angelo de laCruz, if the Philippine government fails to pull out its 51-man contingent of soldiers, police and health workers in Iraq.

(Xinhua News Agency July 10, 2004)