A POLICE officer visits the area where a boy drowned in Liloan town, Cebu province. (Contributed photo)
CEBU CITY – Authorities are investigating the deaths of two children in Cebu province.
In Pinamungahan town, a 10-year-old boy, Nathan Arante Benigay, allegedly died from food poisoning.
In an interview by local radio dyHP, the boy's mother Mercy said that she and her husband agreed to eat dinner with their three children at the town’s food park on Tuesday night, April 21.
They ordered pork sisig, shrimps, and mixed seafood. The mother said Nathan ate most of the mixed seafood with mussels, locally known as tahong.
Mercy said they noticed that the mussels were not thoroughly cooked. At dawn on Sunday, Nathan complained of stomachache while his father vomited blood. On Monday, the father and son continued vomiting while having fever and diarrhea.
The father and son were taken to the hospital on Tuesday when they became weak. The boy died around 7 a.m. on Tuesday.
In a statement, Pinamungajan Mayor Glenn Baricuatro said that while they have yet to receive a formal complaint, the incident is being investigated.
In Liloan town, a 12-year-old drowned while swimming in a canal on Tuesday afternoon.
Police said the boy was one of three children who swam in an inlet canal at the back of a subdivision in Barangay Yati.
Police said the children started swimming at around 11 a.m. They decided to go home a few hours later but decided to return to swim again.
Police said the children were warned by the subdivision caretaker not to swim again due to the strong current. The children ignored the warning and went on to swim.
Police said the fatality was the first to jump into the canal but was swept away by the current. His companions tried to save him but failed.
Residents sought help from emergency responders. The boy’s body was recovered around 2:30 p.m. but efforts to revive him failed.