Cebu City, Philippines—Two minors died from drowning in San Fernando town, southern Cebu on Thursday, May 9, 2019.
Police Major Lymel Pasquin, chief of the San Fernando police, identified the victims as Babylyn Candelanza, 14, and Jamellyn Satinitigan, 7, both from Barangay Sangat.
The bodies of both minors were found by members of the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office medical team past 8 p.m. Thursday. They were brought to the Carcar City District Hospital but were declared dead on arrival.
Pasquin told CDN Digital via telephone that it was Jamison Satinitigan, father of the seven-ear-old victim, who reported the drowning to authorities late Thursday afternoon.
Search and rescue operation began right after the incident was reported in the hopes of finding both minors alive.
Jamison Satinitigan told police that the two victims and two other kids went for a swim in the shores off Barangay Sangat on Thursday. He said the two were only in the shallow part of the beach but could have been swept by the waves to the deeper part of the sea.
The father said that both victims didn’t know how to swim. /bmjo