Man drowns after joining contest on who can stay longer under water

CEBU CITY, Philippines — A contest between friends and relatives on who could hold their breath the longest under water ended in tragedy after one of the contestants apparently drowned.

The tragic incident happened during the feast day of St. John The Baptist on Sunday, June 24, in a private beach property in Barangay Candaguit, Sibonga, a southern town at least 50 km south of Cebu City.

The Patalinghug family were enjoying swimming and having fun at the beach when at past 4 p.m. a family member, Vicente Patalinghug, 27, did not surface from the water after accepting the dare on who could stay under water longer, said Police Master Sergeant Reynaldo Celebrado, Sibonga Police investigator, in a phone interview with CDN Digital on June 25.

Celebrado said that Vicente’s friends and relatives started to worry when Vicente did not surface for quite a while after accepting the dare.

He said it was then that his friends and relatives started a search for Vicente with the aim to bring him up, but they they could not find him in the area where he went under water.

Celebrado said that Vicente was found an hour later stuck among the roots of a plant in a mangrove area a distance away from the beach property, where the family was celebrating St. John The Baptist’s feast day.

Celebrado said that police only started investigating a day later or on June 25 because they only learned about the apparent drowning at past 8 a.m. on Monday (June 25) after a sister of Vicente went to the police station to inform them about the incident.

He said that the family was also requesting assistance from the Sibonga police for an autopsy of Vicente’s body to find out what really killed him.

Celebrado also said that according to initial investigation, prior to his death, Vicente allegedly had had a few drinks with some of his relatives and friends before they went into the water to swim.

Then one of them suggested a challenge on who could stay longer under water — this proved fatal to Vicente, who accepted the dare — he was later found dead stuck into the roots of mangrove plants in the area./dbs