Local fishermen recovered early Tuesday the remains of a
soldier who drowned and went missing on Easter Sunday while swimming off a
coastal village here.
Dr. Agripino Dacera Jr., action officer of the City Disaster
Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO), said the body of Army Pvt.
Marlon Tolentino, 22, was found floating at around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday near the
shores of Barangay Maribulan in Alabel, Sarangani Province
He said the area was about 1.5 kilometers away from the
shores of Minanga in Barangay Buayan here where the victim was drowned at
around 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Tolentino and several members of the Army’s 2nd Field
Artillery Battalion stationed in the city were swimming in the area on Sunday
afternoon when he suddenly drowned.
Pvt. Manolito Mantalas, who was part of the group, said they
were swimming at a portion of the area when he noticed the victim drowning and
calling for help.
He rushed towards the area but failed to reach Tolentino who
drifted to a deeper portion of the sea.
“I immediately dived to his spot but it was too deep and the
underwater current was quite strong,” he said.
Mantalas said local fishermen also came to help but failed
to catch up with the drowning Tolentino, who hails from Pangasinan province and
was only assigned to his unit here last March 19.
The CDRRMO, the barangay rescue team and the Philippine
Coast Guard later launched joint search and retrieval operations for the victim
but they failed to locate him.
“We’re not quite familiar with the coastline so we had
difficulty locating where his body might have drifted,” Dacera said.
The official said the area where Tolentino drowned is
considered dangerous by local residents due to some eroded spots.
Local residents said a number of accidental drowning had
happened in the area in the past years because of such condition.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=750924
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