Grade 10 student drowns during class excursion

By Jennifer P. Rendon

A Grade 10 student drowned during a class excursion at a beach resort in Guimbal, Iloilo.

The body of 15-year-old Wendell, a resident of Barangay Tacuyong Norte, Leon, Iloilo, was found at the shoreline along Barangay Nanga, Guimbal around 9:40 a.m. of Dec. 18.

While it was believed that the victim died several hours already, he was still brought to the hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.

Corporal Karl Francis Boston, Guimbal police investigator, said Wendell, along with his 30 classmates and a teacher from Dorog National High School in Leon town, went for a class excursion at a resort in Nanga village on Dec. 17.

The class already had their Christmas party but decided to go on a group outing.

Early afternoon of the said date, several classmates noticed that the victim was nowhere to be found.

But they did not suspect that he drowned because some of them claimed to have seen him get out of the water and then walk out of the resort.

Boston said that it was the resort management that noticed one of their guests went missing.

At 4 p.m., the group went back to Leon where they confirmed that Wendell was not home.

At 12:20 a.m., the victim’s sister personally reported the incident to Guimbal Municipal Police Station.

The family again went back to the police station at 8 a.m. to check the progress of the investigation.

“As we were going to the resort, we received a report that a body was found floating around 15 meters away from the shoreline,” Boston said.

When police investigators arrived, the boy was already scooped out of the waters and taken to the shoreline.

Boston added that the area where the body was found is around 600 meters from where the resort was.

“Indi ta pa ma-determine kung ano gid man natabo kay hambal sang mga classmates niya, nakita gid nila nga nag takas siya kag nag guwa sa resort,” he said.

The victim’s family claimed Wendel did not drink liquor and he also did not know how to swim.