Danao cops probe death of man, who drowned retrieving cellphone that fell into the sea

Danao City police gather additional information that may help them identify if there is a foul play over the ‘accident’ that ended life of a 28-year-old man and an apprentice of a vessel docked in barangay Dunggoan in Danao City on Saturday evening, November 20, 2021. | contributed photo via Paul Lauro

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Was there foul play in the death of an apprentice of a ship docked in a Danao City port, who allegedly drowned when he tried to retrieve his cellphone that fell into the sea? Or was it just an accident?

This is what police are investigating on the death of the 28-year-old apprentice of MV Rauda Express, who was identified as April John Magbanua.

Police Master Sergeant Jose Michael Alegado, desk officer of Danao City Police Station, said they were trying to find out whether there was foul play or not in the death of Magbanua because the incident was reported to the police two hours after it happened in a port in Barangay Dunggoan, Danao City on Saturday evening.

Alegado said that based on the police report, Magbanua and Norberto Eran, the ship’s chief engineer, had just had a drinking spree and were returning to the ship, which was docked at the port, when Magbanua’s cellphone allegedly fell to the sea at past 9 p.m. that day.

“Kani silang duha ni Norberto Eran, ilahang chief engineer, naginom ni silang duha. Unya paghuman sa ilahang panaginom, nisud sila unya na aksidente nga nahulog ang cellphone sa biktima. Iya sad gilayatan dayon pero ang nahitabo wa naman siya katunga. Murag nalumos gyud siya. Wa na katunga,” Alegado said.

(Both of them the victim and Norberto Eran, the chief engineer, had been drinking. After they were done drinking, they decided to return to the ship but as they were boarding the ship the victim’s cellphone fell into the sea. The victim then jumped into the sea to retrieve the phone but he never surfaced. It seemed that he drowned because he never surfaced.)

He said that the body was later retrieved near the area.

He said that the incident was reported to them at only past 11 p.m. or at least two hours after the incident happened.

According to the wife of the victim, in an interview through Facebook chat, that her husband started his apprenticeship only last October 28.

Magbanua has a family in Antique and with his death he left behind a wife and a four-year-old son.

The wife also said that a representative of the shipping firm had already reached out to them and informed them about her husband’s death.

Aside from that, a cousin of the victim, who was also interviewed by CDN Digital, said that the younger brother of the victim had already arrived in Cebu this morning to claim the body of Magbanua and bring him home.

His cousin also said that he was hoping that there was no foul play in the death of Magbanua because it was already hard enough for the family to accept his death and the circumstances leading to it. 

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