Teacher drowns while fishing in Sorsogon

INQUIRER FILES

SANTA MAGDALENA, SORSOGON — A secondary school teacher, who went fishing on Tuesday night, was found dead after big waves dragged him in this town on Wednesday.

Marlon Futol, head of Santa Magdalena municipal disaster risk reduction and management office, said in a phone interview that the remains of Melchor Almodiel were found off the coast of Barangay 4 Poblacion around 7 a.m.

“He was dragged by big waves, which caused him to drown,” Futol told the Inquirer.

While they were fishing, Almodiel’s companions noticed that he disappeared, but because it was “completely dark,” they had difficulty finding him.

Futol said search-and-rescue operations were immediately launched after Almodiel was reported missing around 9 p.m. on Tuesday.

Rescuers reported that Almodiel had wounds all over his body which, Futol explained, were probably because he was tossed by the waves and “scratched the rocks underwater.”

Rescuers brought him to a hospital in the nearby town of Matnog but declared dead eventually.
Almodiel was a full-time public school teacher, but it was his hobby to go fishing at night, according to Futol.