BACOLOD CITY – Five persons, including two children, drowned in rivers during the Holy Week from March 25 to 31 in Negros Occidental.
The Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office (Nocppo) said the victims drowned in Cadiz, La Carlota, and Kabankalan cities and the towns of Moises Padilla and Pontevedra.
An 11-year-old girl drowned in Barangay Camansi, Kabankalan City during a family outing on Easter Sunday.
Police Lt. Col. Roberto Indiape Jr., Kabankalan police chief, said the victim, a Grade 5 pupil, reached a deep portion of the river while playing with her seven-year-old cousin.
The victim drowned and her cousin was rescued by a family member. The victim was declared dead in a hospital.
A five-year-old boy also drowned in Barangay San Miguel, La Carlota City, on Black Saturday.
The other victims were males aged 27, 39, and 56. They drowned in Barangay Poblacion 1, Moises Padilla on March 29, Barangay Sicaba, Cadiz City on March 28, and Barangay Antipolo, Pontevedra on March 25, respectively.