Body of boy who drowned in floods found

BATANGAS CITY, Batangas, Philippines—The body of the 10-year-old boy reported missing on Wednesday after he was swept away by the flood was found in a creek near a subdivision in Barangay Pallocan West here on Thursday afternoon, a Red Cross official said.

Philippine National Red Cross Batangas chapter officer in charge Andrew Mendoza said that the body of Mark Daniel Ken Mateo was found at 3 p.m. by a village watchman.

Mateo had just left school at about 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday and was crossing a spillway when he was swept away by a flash flood in Dimacuha Road, Barangay Samapaga, here.

Mateo went after his slippers, which were swept by the flood but he too was carried away.

Mateo was the lone casualty reported in the city that was hit by heavy flooding following two days of continuous rain. More than a hundred families in flooded areas in the city were evacuated on Wednesday and early Thursday but most have returned home after the flood water receded in the afternoon of Thursday, Mendoza said.