• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Two individuals drowned in Murcia and Ilog towns in Negros Occidental on Sunday (May 19).
Both victims, who are students, were declared dead on arrival at medical facilities in Murcia and Kabankalan City, according to police reports.
The first fatality, a 19-year-old female student of Special Education Program, went swimming to the deeper portion of Caliban River in Murcia unnoticed.
When her family and friends searched for her, the body of the victim, a resident of Barangay Mansilingan, Bacolod City, was found underwater.
She was brought to the Murcia Rural Health Center, where she was declared dead on arrival, according to the Murcia police.
Meanwhile, a minor drowned at Sitio Calumpang in Barangay Galicia, Ilog.
Police investigation showed that the nine-year-old boy was swimming with his relatives when he got separated from his life saver balloon.
He was later found unconscious and declared dead at the Lorenzo Zayco District Hospital in Kabankalan City. | GB
