• RICHARD T. CABALLERO JR.
An 11-year-old student in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental, has been found lifeless after he reportedly drowned at the river at Sitio Buyunan, Barangay Tampalon, on Sunday.
The victim was identified as an 11-year-old male student and a resident of the area.
Kabankalan Component City Police Station said that on the evening of Sunday, the parents of the victim became worried when their son failed to return home after he and his friends went to the river to catch fish earlier that morning.
Upon inquiry, a friend of the victim stated that while he and the victim were swimming at a shallow portion of the river, the victim unknowingly reached the deeper portion.
The victim reportedly had a hard time swimming and drowned.
A day after the incident, the relatives of the victim personally appeared at Kabankalan CCPS to request a search and retrieval operation, which was immediately carried out by the authorities.
On Monday afternoon, the lifeless body of a boy was found near the riverbank, which was immediately identified by the family as the victim.
The cadaver was subsequently brought to Lacsama Funeral Homes for post-mortem examination.*
