A red pickup truck with 17 passengers onboard was swept away by flood waters in a river in BarangayCantumog, Carmen, Cebu on Monday afternoon, July 8. | Paul Lauro
CEBU CITY, Philippines — One of the victims who went missing during the Carmen town river flash flood was a pregnant woman who reportedly jumped in after seeing her husband fall into the river on Monday, July 8.
A few hours later, her body was found floating in the river while her husband remains missing. Rhesamie Ypil Costan, 26, and Elmer Costan, 25, officially tied the knot on Saturday, July 6.
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Rhesamie was six months pregnant. The newlyweds came to a mountain resort in Sitio Mangingit, Barangay Lower Natimao-an with family and friends on Monday.
The woman’s father, Amadeo Ypil Jr., 47, told CDN Digital in an interview that they arrived at the resort at 11 a.m. At around 3 p.m., one of their close neighbors arrived in a pickup truck and joined them.
At the same time, Ypil decided to bring some of the relatives home on his motorcycle. When he offered to come back for the rest, they allegedly said that they would catch a ride on their neighbor’s pickup truck.
However, Ypil received news from another neighbor that a vehicle had been swept away a few hours later. According to Ypil, the water in the river had not overflowed when he crossed the spillway just after 3 p.m.
The pickup truck containing his daughter and 16 others was hit by a huge volume of floodwaters as they tried to cross the river at around 5 p.m.
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Ypil stated that his daughter was sitting inside the pickup truck while her new husband was at the back. When she saw him falling into the river, she allegedly jumped in after him.
“Pagtan-aw niya nga natagak iyang bana, iyang gisunod,” stated Ypil.
The couple and four others then went missing while 10 persons were immediately rescued. A few hours later, an 11-year-old child was found dead in the river in BarangayLuyang.
On Tuesday, July 9, Rhesamie’s body was found floating along the coast of the same river. Also found by emergency personnel was 12-year-old Nathaniel Lozano.
Rhesamie, the eldest of 8, worked as a cashier at a pawnshop, according to Ypil. He added that before the incident, she had shared her plans of moving to Camotes Island, where her new husband, Elmer, was from.
As of this writing, Elmer and three minors are still missing. A total of 100 emergency personnel continue to conduct search and rescue operations for the missing victims.