Boy, swept away by onrushing canal water, found dead near Tagunol bridge

Rescue volunteers found the body of the missing five-year-old boy, John Clark Ebua near the Tagunol Bridge in Barangay Basak Pardo in Cebu City in the late afternoon of July 14. |Benjie Talisic

CEBU CITY, Philippines — She is grieving for losing his five-year-old son, John Clark Ebua, yet she is also grateful for having his body found and retrieved nearly 28 hours since he was swept away on July 13 by onrushing waters of a canal in Sitio Exoville, Barangay Basak Pardo, Cebu City.

Julie Ann Nacion,  who works in a lending company, thanked the volunteers and all the people who helped retrieve Ebua’s body at 5:43 p.m. on July 14.

“Nagpasalamat ko sa tanang nitabang sukad sa pagkalunod niya hangtod sa pagkakuha niya,” said Nacion.

(I very grateful for those who helped starting from when my son fell from the canal until he was found and retrieved.)

The body of Ebua was found near the Tagunol Bridge in Barangay Basak Pardo, Cebu City or about a kilometer away from where he fell into a canal and was swept by the onrushing water during a heavy rain at past 2 p.m. on July 13 in Sitio Exoville.

Ebua was then playing with a ball in the rain when he fell into the canal.

Read more: Boy, 5, falls in Basak Pardo canal; missing

This started a rescue operation for the boy at nearly 3 p.m. on July 13 and was turned into a retrieval operation at 8 a.m. on July 14.

Read more: Cebu City disaster personnel to resume search for missing boy from Basak Pardo early today

It was announced that the retrieval operations were suspended at nearly 5 p.m. because of the rains.

Fortunately, the rescue volunteers found the body near the Tagunol bridge nearly an hour later.

Nacion said that she had somehow earlier lost hope that her son would still be found because the waters below the bridge were getting deeper and bigger.

“Pero giingnan ko ni Sir (Councilor) Dave (Tumulak) na ampo lang ta. Naa pa na diha,” said Nacion.

(But he told me to pray. He is still there.)

But when Ebua’s body was found, Nacion said that she did not have the courage to look at him in his situation.

The body was then brought to the St. Gabriel Funeral Homes.

Read more: Tumulak: John Clark Ebua may already be dead

Earlier in the day, Nacion said that she was hoping against hope that her son would still be found alive, but if events turn for the worse, she would just want his son’s body found.

“Sakit kaayo sa akong kaugalingon nga di nako siya mahipos. Ang iyang kamatayun, di lalim dawatun nako nga magtanaw ko niya nga wala pagyud nako sya nakit-i ,” said Nacion when Councilor Dave Tumulak, who was among those who spearheaded the rescue operations, ordered the shift of the operations to a retrieval operations at 8 a.m. on July 14.

(It hurts to think that I won’t be be able to bury him properly. His death is hard to accept especially when we haven’t found him yet.)

Aside from that, Nacion also appealed to the government to close all canals and box culverts in barangays as it would be unsafe especially to children.

“Dapat ilaha na gyod na tabunan para safety gyud ba wala nay mahitabo nga trahedya,” said Nacion.

 (They should seal it [canals] to assure the safety of residents and prevent accidents)

Tumulak, for his part, said that the barangays should be responsible in covering their canals and box culverts especially since children would usually be playing near them.

He said that he would ask the barangays to do something about the cover of unsealed canals./dbs