BY CALVIN CORDOVA
CEBU CITY—Three siblings drowned while swimming in a river in Dalaguete town, southern Cebu, past 10 a.m. last Friday.
Police found no signs of foul play in the death of the two sisters, aged 11 and nine, and their four-year-old brother.
Police Cpl. Jem Vincent Pacaldo, desk officer of Dalaguete Police Station, said the three victims and their two other siblings went with their 72-year-old grandfather Valeriano Betcher Besin to their farm.
To reach the farm, the group had to cross a river.
Past 10 a.m., the siblings told their grandfather that they would go home ahead.
The siblings also asked permission from their grandfather that they would swim first in the river before going home.
Besin told the police that he reminded the siblings not to go to the deep portion of the river.
While swimming, two of the children were carried to a deep portion of the river.
The two other sisters, aged seven and five, ran back to their farm to seek help from their grandfather.
When the grandfather arrived, the nine-year-old girl was already floating unconscious. The bodies of the two other victims were later found by rescuers submerged in about five-foot deep water. (Calvin D. Cordova)
