BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
A minor and her rescuer drowned on Black Saturday in Purok Tan-ag in Brgy. Damsite, Murcia, Negros Occidental.
The police said Jose Jerry Pamalo-an and the minor, whose identity was withheld by the police, were declared dead on arrival at the Murcia Rural Health Unit.
Initial investigation of the Murcia police showed that Pamalo-an tried to save the minor, who slipped from a rock and fell into a deep portion of the river, where they and a sister of the minor were taking a bath.
Both victims were swept away by a strong current into a tunnel of the National Irrigation Administration, where they drowned, the Murcia police said.
The police also reported that a certain Fedelito Ayencia drowned on April 1 in Sitio Dul-ungan, Brgy. Canturay, Sipalay City. Ayencia, 37, suffered leg cramps while swimming to the shoreline after fishing, and drowned, the police said.*
