Boy dies after saving younger brother from drowning in Ormoc river

ORMOC CITY, Leyte, May 26-- A boy died after saving his younger sibling from drowning in a major river in Lilo-an village here Thursday afternoon. 

Edwina Rosales, the victim’s aunt said Mark Kevin Potente, 9, slipped in and fell into the water, and was carried by the sudden strong surge of floodwater from the mountain just seconds after he saved his six-year old brother.

The two boys and their cousin were swimming in Liloan River when they noticed a sudden rise of river water despite fair weather.

Police confirmed they received information that the water at the said river went high due to strong rains upland earlier that day. The river is a basin of mountain rains to the sea and often the center of rescue during heavy rains and typhoons. 

When the flood slightly subsided three hours later, the boy’s body was found stacked at a bamboo tree some five meters from where he was last found alive. He was declared dead on arrival at the hospital. 

The city rescue unit, who immediately conducted search at the beyond human depth water, used ropes to fight the gushing water to look for the boy. 

The victim’s parents Jovelyn, 30, and Junrey, 33, wept for their first-born’s loss. They have two children. 

“The boys just had their lunch when they left home unnoticed,” Rosales recalled. 

Potente and Rosales are neighbors in Tzu Chi village, a relocation site intended for the families that became homeless after super typhoon "Yolanda" struck the city in 2013. The resettlement site is located across the river.

 (Elvie Roman Roa/PNA)