Drowned boy in Tabuk already found

Tabuk City, Kalinga – The body of Shayne Natarte, the 8-year-old boy who drowned in the irrigation canal in Purok 7, Bulanao yesterday, was found after 17 hours of search and retrieval operation.

Natarte was discovered stuck at the side of the irrigation canal at 7:44 AM today, August 10. He was retrieved approximately 500 meters away from the area where he got drowned.

Senior Fire Officer 1 Francis Alunday, one of the rescue team from the Bureau of Fire and Protection, narrated that various rescue teams alternately helped to find the body. There were difficulties in the search due to high water level and problems with visibility.

When they started their search operation at 3:00 PM, they had to ask the National Irrigation Administration to temporarily stop the flow of water in the irrigation. However, the water level was yet to subside.

The BFP personnel stayed at the place where the victim got drowned while the PNP and the City and Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office and other citizens went further down the irrigation canal to look for the body.

“Iti BFP gamin, ditoy kami lang batog na ta kaadwan gamin a kasdiay a malmalmes haan nga umadayu. Dagitoy kakadwa tayo a PNP ken daduma, isu iti binmaba. Bali tallo kami a group idi kalman,” Alunday explained.

At 1:00 AM of August 10, the water level was still high and the responding personnel pulled out from the area and resumed operation at 7:00 AM.

At 7:00, it was already easier for the team to resume the research since the water level was shallower.

Forty-four minutes after 7 AM, Alunday said they finally found the body of the victim, which was trapped at the side of the irrigation canal.

How the victim drowned

Alunday relayed that the victim regularly went to the irrigation canal just in front of their house for a swim.

He added that across the canal, there was a rope tied on both sides where swimmers hold on to for safety while they’re in the deep portion of the water. However, on August 9, when the boy was having a swim, he lost his grip on the rope and got carried by the strong water current.

Three passersby saw him and dived into the water but they were not able to save him. That was when they called for the search, rescue, and retrieval teams.

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