‘Missing boy’ found

A FOUR-YEAR-OLD boy whom loved ones feared had drowned in the river in  sitio Tambisan, barangay Labangon, Cebu City was reportedly rescued by a resident of barangay Tisa yesterday afternoon.

Alvin Santillana, chief of the Cebu City Disaster Coordinating Council (CDCC), said he called off the search for the child named John Christ after he was spotted by a resident along a road.

The kid was still clad in black shorts and white shirt hours after he took a bath in the river during a downpour. The child’s parents earlier distributed his photos to help in the search.

Santillana said the child is now with his parents and will undergo checkup to verify his condition. A search was held by the CDCC after they received report that a four-year-old kid went missing during a downpour last Saturday night.

The kid was last seen bathing in the river, alone. The team searched the river on foot from Labangon to Mambaling and monitored the river opening near Ludo industry in Mambaling since it is the only exit to the sea.

The search and rescue operation was called off at 4 p.m. yesterday. This occurred even as the state weather bureau Pagasa reported two low pressure areas (LPA) flanking the Philippines off Mindanao and Mindoro yesterday.

An Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) continued to bring rains over the country.

Pagasa weather analyst Aldczar Aurelio said one low pressure area was seen over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) about 220 kilometers west- northwest of Calapan.

Another low pressure area was seen 780 kilometers east of Mindanao as of yesterday, gathering strength over the Pacific Ocean. Aurelio said the Pacific LPA would likely develop into a tropical depression, possibly within the coming week.

Both LPAs have been spurred by the ITCZ as the weather system has been affecting southern Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao./Reporter Candeze R. Mongaya with an Inquirer report