A cross is placed on top of a rock by a creek where 9 year-old Irish Barral drowned in Barangay Lagtang, Talisay City, Cebu on Tuesday morning, August 8. | Paul Lauro
CEBU CITY, Philippines – A 9 year-old girl died after drowning while swimming with her siblings in a creek in Sitio Tiguib, Barangay Lagtang, Talisay City, Cebu on Tuesday morning, August 8,2023.
The victim was identified as Irish Barral. She is the third out of the seven children of Jonalyn Juezan.
The incident reportedly happened at around 9 a.m.
Jocelyn Caliwan, a witness living near the area where the drowning in Talisay happened, told CDN Digital that there were six of the siblings who were swimming there at the time of the incident.
She said that she went back to her house to wake her kid up and returned to see just four of the kids swimming in the creek.
“Pagbalik nako didto sa tabay, niana ko sa mga bata, katong upat nga nahabilin, asa inyong ate?,” she said. (When I went back out, I asked the kids, the ones who were left swimming, ‘where is your older sister?’)
When she saw the older sister, she told her to look after the younger kids. This is when the older sister told her that one of her siblings was missing after jumping from a rock into the creek.
“Nawa man didto, nilayat kuno dinha, nawala,” she said. (She said she got lost. She jumped from the rock and then got lost.)
Alarmed, she then told a man who was near the area to help look for the child.
She said the man swam into the creek to look for the child at around 9:17 a.m.
Considering the possibly that the girl could have also gone home without telling anyone, the witness asked the older sister to check their home.
But the older sister insisted that her sister jumped into the creek and did not come back up.
Less than an hour later, the body of the missing child was recovered a few meters from where she reportedly jumped, said Caliwan.
“Wala na. Gipulsohan nila, wala na gyud kuno ang bata,” she said. (She was already gone. They checked her pulse but the kid was already gone.)
A cross is now placed on top of a rock near the creek where the girl drowned.
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