A Swedish national facing charges of human trafficking died yesterday after he jumped off a vessel, about 900 meters from the port of Sta. Fe town on Bantayan Island, northern Cebu.
Walter Hauck, in his 60s, hit his head on a portion of the ship before falling into the water, said Cebu Coast Guard Station Commander Agapito Bibat.
Jail Officer 1 Efren Manzanares, who was Hauck’s escort who went into the water to look for the foreigner, found him 25 minutes later and brought him to Bantayan District Hospital where the foreigner was declared dead on arrival.
Hauck was detained at the Bantayan District Jail since last year after he was arrested by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas in his beach house in Sta. Fe town in December 2014 for allegedly molesting five boys aged 12, 13, 14 and 17, according to Insp. Manuel dela Peña, Bantayan district jail warden.
There are three towns on Bantayan Island — Bantayan, Sta. Fe and Madridejos.
On Tuesday morning, Hauck was taken out of detention to attend the hearing for the case of human trafficking which was pending at a local court in Bogo City.
He was with another detainee, Ricky Desabille, who was facing a separate case at the Bogo Regional Trial Court. Hauck and Desabille were handcuffed together as they were brought to Hagnaya port in San Remegio town from Bogo to take LCT Island II that would take them back to Bantayan.
Bibat said that based on the report of their detachment in Sta. Fe, Manzanares took off Hauck’s handcuff about 2:50 p.m. after the foreigner asked permission to go to the toilet to urinate while the vessel was approaching the port of Sta. Fe.
But instead of going to the toilet, the foreigner rushed to the tail end of the vessel and jumped into the sea.
Bibat said a crew of the vessel also saw that Hauck’s head slammed into a portion of the vessel before hitting the water.
Manzanares asked the ship’s crew to stop the vessel and rescue the Swedish.
Dela Peña said Manzanares jumped into the water to search for Hauck. He found Hauck’s body at 3:15 p.m.
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