A young miner perished in a drowning incident
DROWNING INCIDENT – A young miner aged 21 passed away due to drowning on Monday, January 2 at Towing Falls in Poblacion, Sablan, Benguet.
The victim was identified as Leoncio Joe Balag-ey Lang-ay, a resident of Sitio Naiba, Tuding, Itogon, Benguet, as per the Sablan Municipal Police Station. The drowning incident happened around 12:05 pm and was reported to Sablan MPS at 12:35 in the afternoon.
Based on the investigation, Lang-ay was with two friends Arjay Esnara, 17 and Gerry Basilio Frondarina, 21, when they went to the waterfalls. They claim that they witnessed the victim abruptly dive into the deep section of the falls as they were taking a bath there, but after a while, he did not surface. Additionally, neither of the two knew that the victim couldn’t swim.
Civilian volunteers immediately conducted a search and rescue until he was found underwater and brought up. The victim was immediately given cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR upon the arrival of BFP personnel, but he was still unconscious. The victim was rushed to the Benguet General Hospital but was declared dead while being treated by Dr. Eileen Mae Sagorsor at 1:56 in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 236,000 individuals drown each year, making it the third most common cause of injury-related deaths worldwide and one of the main causes of death for those between the ages of one and 24. On the other hand, in the Philippines, more than 3,000 Filipinos perish from drowning each year.
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