Teener drowns at metro floodway
A 17-year-old boy drowned while swimming at the Iloilo Flood Control Project in Brgy. Bitoon, Jaro, Iloilo City.
Philip Cesar Loreas, of Brgy. Cubay, Jaro, went for a swim at the floodway at around 1 p.m. of Wednesday with his friend, Wenel Jagolingay.
An hour later, Jagolingay said he heard his friend shouting for help but he said he could not locate him.
He then asked help from the nearby Community Police Assistance Center in Brgy. Bitoon.
Rescuers immediately arrived but it took them more than three hours to recover the victim’s body. He was brought to West Visayas State University Medical Center where he was declared “dead on arrival.”
Jagolingay said it was not the first time that he and his friend went swimming at the flood control site.
Loreas also knew how to swim, he said. He theorized that his friend might have suffered muscle cramps then.
The fatality, a student at the Jaro National High School, was the first person drown at the floodway.
