Tempo Online
At least 13 people including five minors died of drowning on Good Friday.
In Quezon City, a Grade 2 pupil drowned after being unmindful that a separate pool for adults was way too deep for him.
The victim’s grandmother Juliana Buquis said they were having an overnight swimming stay at the Remedios Garden Resort in Novaliches where she left her grandson to play at the resort’s kiddie pool.
Moments later, the family of the victim heard a commotion and where shocked to see their loved one as the unconscious victim himself.
The hapless victim was rushed to the Novaliches District Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival past 9 p.m..
Meanwhile, three more drowning victims died in separate towns in Batangas, one of them a six-year-old girl who died while swimming at the Rosman Beach Resort in the town of Lemery. Two others, Freddie Fernandez and a 16-year-old boy, drowned to their deaths in Calatagan and Barangay Bagong Silang, respectively.
In Isabela, 49-year-old Rodolfo Talamayan went missing after trying to cross a deep river, reportedly inebriated, along Barangay Calaccab Angadanan.
Over in Alicia also in Isabela, 30-year-old Anthony Amin who was also said to be drunk died after being carried by a strong current along Magat river.
Another drunk victim, Glen Mey Dela Cruz, 19, perished along Lalog river in Luna town.
In Quezon province, a 10-year-old boy drowned during a religious gathering in Tayabas City and died hours later after being rushed to the hospital.
Gumaca resident Roy Cabangon, after a drinking spree with friends, was found floating along Malatandang beach in Unisan town.
23-year-old Makati resident Noel Anthony Restuaro met his untimely death while swimming inside the Garden de Dasmarinas Resort in Dasmariñas, Cavite more than an hour past 12mn Friday.
The province of Pangasinan was also not spared from the seemingly holy week curse with the youngest, a seven-year-old boy, was seen floating in a swimming pool in Pozzorubio.
23-year-old vacationer Stanford Laudit drowned in a resort in the town of Bani while two died while bathing at Agno and Lim-Mingaleng rivers, respectively.
(With reports from Danny Estacio, Anthony Giron and Liezle Basa Iñigo) (VANNE ELAINE TERRAZOLA & FREDDIE G. LAZARO)
