Argao drowning: Body of 10-year-old boy found along riverbank

CEBU CITY, Philippines – The body of a 10-year-old boy, who allegedly drowned while swimming with classmates, was retrieved along the riverbank in Sitio Camboaya, Barangay Conalum in Argao town, southern Cebu on Wednesday evening, September 20,2023.

Residents found the body lying by the riverbank and reported the alleged drowning incident to the Argao Police Station.

The police report showed that after receiving the call from a concerned citizen, personnel of the station lead by Police Chief Master Sergeant Bienvenido Amil, immediately proceeded to the area of the incident to investigate.

Upon their arrival, the responding officers saw a 10-year-old boy believed to be dead lying beside the river.

The body of the boy who allegedly drowned in Argao, Cebu. | contributed photo

The victim was identified as 10-year-old Jhon Clark Locero Camajalan, a resident of Sitio Takliad, Barangay Conalum, Argao.

READ MORE: Body of woman retrieved from raging river water in Compostela, Cebu

Argao is approximately 70 kilometers south of Cebu City.

Police Corporal Mark Anthony Dicdican, investigator from the Argao Police Station, told CDN Digital in a phone interview that their investigation disclosed that the victim was attending a community event called “Bayanihan tagbo or Sugbosog activity” together with his grandmother on the day of the incident.

Boy lived with grandmother

Dicdican said that while the activity was ongoing, the boy allegedly got together with his classmates and neighbors. The group of minors then decided to go swimming at a nearby river.

According to Dicdican, when the event ended at around 4:00 p.m., the grandmother went looking for the boy but did not find him or any of his friends in the river.

The woman then assumed that the minor went home first so she headed back to her house to check.

However, she did not find the boy inside their house which prompted her to ask help from neighbors in finding him.

Dicdican said that because he was nowhere to be found, the grandmother suspected that the child could have drowned without anyone noticing.

The 10-year-old lived with his grandmother along with his two other siblings after their parents split up.

After his disappearance, a search and retrieval operation was conducted by residents in their neighborhood which eventually lead to the recovery of the boy’s body hours after he went missing.

Dicdican said that personnel from the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO) brought the victim to the Isidro C. Kintanar Memorial Hospital at around 9:30 p.m for immediate medical treatment.  However, the boy was declared dead on arrival by the attending physician, said Dicdican.

He added that the physician, Dr. Angela Herrera, disclosed during interview with Argao police that the cause of the boy’s death was cardiopulmonary arrest secondary to drowning.

The boy also had no physical injuries on his body, according to Dicdican.

/bmjo