CEBU CITY -- In a span of two hours, a Korean woman and a Japanese man died while snorkeling in the waters off Olango Island, Lapu-Lapu City and Pandanon Island, Bohol on Saturday afternoon.
Hours earlier, two fishermen from Tayud, Consolacion also found the body of an unidentified man floating in the waters off Barangay Buaya, Lapu-Lapu City.
A fourth death that may have been by drowning was reported in Carmen, Cebu last Friday afternoon, where a woman was fished out of the water where she was earlier seen struggling.
In one of Saturday's cases, according to the Homicide Section of the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office, Hyo Cim Ahn, 63, was snorkeling with 19 fellow Koreans in Barangay Talima, Olango Island past noon.
The tourists were staying at the Crown Regency Hotel on Osmeña Blvd., Cebu City.
They went snorkeling and island-hopping with three Filipino photographers and three boatmen.
When their boat arrived in Talima around 12:30 p.m., Ahn jumped into the water first, the police said.
Departure
A few minutes later, Harry Tejedor, one of the photographers, saw Ahn’s body floating.
They hoisted her into the boat and brought her to the Mactan Doctors’ Hospital but she was pronounced dead on arrival.
Hyo Cim Ahn arrived in Cebu last September 12. She and her fellow Koreans were scheduled to leave for Korea today.
Past 2 p.m., Japanese national Kenji Inamasu, 39, was brought to the Mactan Doctors’ Hospital by the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation but he, too, was declared dead on arrival.
According to the police, Inamasu went to Pandanon Island with three fellow Japanese, a Filipina friend named Therese Padilla, and three boatmen.
Padilla, 28, told the police that Inamasu was snorkeling but they later saw him floating, with his face in the water.
When they turned him over, they saw him frothing at the mouth. Inamasu, who came from Tokyo, arrived in the Philippines last September 19. The police said the man’s body will be submitted for autopsy.
Man with knife
Around 8:30 a.m., two fishermen from Barangay Tayud, Consolacion found the body of an unidentified man floating in the waters off Barangay Buaya.
PO1 Jomar Florentino of the LLCPO Homicide Section said the man, believed to be between 40 and 50 years old, wore blue slacks and had no shirt on. He held a knife in his right hand. The victim had a cut near his right eye.
Diosdado Macapas, 52, and his son Arbee, 19, were fishing around 8:30 a.m. when they found the body. They immediately reported the sighting to the Maritime Police Office in Barangay Pusok, under the Marcelo B. Fernan Bridge. PO3 Eric de Luna went to the area and brought the body to the shore. The body was brought to a funeral parlor for autopsy.
Last Friday afternoon, a woman drowned in the seawater off Barangay Poblacion, Carmen town. The woman, who was not identified, was about five feet tall and appeared to be in her early 30s.
Nilo Baguio, an employee of Cebu Technological University, reported to the police at 2:55 p.m. after he noticed the woman was struggling in the wharf area.
Senior Police Officer 1 Gil Jabonero of Carmen Police Station, in coordination with the town’s Rural Health Unit, fished out the woman’s body 30 minutes later.
Dr. Elmer Batao, municipal health officer, declared the woman dead. Prior to the incident, police said the woman was seen alone by some residents, who said she kept talking in English. (Sun.Star Cebu)
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