Cebu river sweeps away pickup truck with 17 people: 1 dead, 6 missing

Carmen town: Victims, 11 of them kids, were heading home from a party when tragedy struck

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Tragedy struck 17 people who attended a party in a resort in Barangay Natimao-an, Carmen town in northern Cebu.

This was after the red Isuzu D-Max, a pickup truck, they were riding on got swept away by a flash flood or a surge of water in a river on their way home from the celebration in Barangay Cantumog, also of Carmen town as they were passing along river spillway in the area.

The victims were heading to their homes in Barangay Cantacung also of Carmen town.

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Eleven of the 17 people were children whose ages ranged from 6 years old to 15 years old.

Initial investigation showed that the pickup truck was passing along the spillway when the rampaging waters of the river carried it away.

The pickup truck later got stuck in a rock at the middle of the river.

The Carmen Police Station in their initial investigation said that the victims were heading home from a party in a resort in Barangay Natimao-an in Carmen town at past 5 p.m. on Monday, July 8, when tragedy struck as they were passing a river spillway in Barangay Cantucong.

Of the 17 people in the pickup truck, 10 were rescued, these were mostly the people trapped in the truck that got stuck in a rock in the middle of the river.

Six of the passengers, who fell from the pickup truck and were swept away by the river, have remained missing as of 5 a.m. today.

The body of the dead 12-year-old girl, who was one of the seven people who got carried away by the river, was later retrieved by rescuers.

The Carmen Police Station in a report have identified the passengers and driver involved in this accident.

The 10 people who were rescued were: Ranilo Hermoso, 44; the driver of the vehicle; Debie Hermoso, 40; Jojielyn Tungal, 39; Jasmine Gica, 37; 4 six-year-old girls; an 11-year-old girl; and a 16-year-old girl.

Those missing were Rhesamie Costan, 26; Elmer Costan, 25; an 11-year-old girl; a 12-year-old boy; a 13-year-old girl; and a 15-year-old boy.

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According to Mayor Carlo Villamor of Carmen town, that the search and rescue operations were stopped later that night because it was no longer safe for the rescuers.

Villamor said in a post that they would start searching at 5 a.m. 

“Karong alas 5 sa buntag magsugod ta sa coastline search, upstream-downstream, downstream-upstream search,” said Villamor.

(At 5 this morning, we will start our coastline search, upstream-downstream, downstream-upstream search.)

He also said that the rescued victims were being taken care of as they had been experiencing trauma due to the accident.

Carmen town is a third class municipality of the province of Cebu which is situated approximately 38.6 kilometers north of Cebu City.