Radio operator succeeds in fourth attempt at suicide by drowning

MANILA, Philippines – After being rescued three times in a span of about half an hour, a  shipping company’s radio operator threw himself back into the sea for a fourth time early Friday, and this time Coast Guard divers found his lifeless body two hours later, police said.

Senior Police Officer 2 Virgo Villareal of the Manila Police District’s homicide section said Alexander Geagoma, 38, an employee of Sulpicio Lines Inc. based at the North Harbor in Tondo, jumped into the sea several minutes past 3 a.m. from a tugboat docked at Pier 10.

Villareal said that security guards at the pier spotted him and fished him out of the water. However, as soon as his co-workers placed him on the tug’s deck, Geagoma ran to the other side and leaped back into the waters of Manila Bay.

After his second rescue, security guards and other workers decided to restrain Geagoma and made him promise that he would not jump into the sea again. But he broke his word and jumped again.

According to the investigator, Geagoma promised one more time he would not jump into the sea again and proceeded to disembark from the tugboat. But instead of returning to the Sulpicio Lines office, Geagoma proceeded to the barge MV Palawan that was docked nearby and dove into the sea.

A security guard who saw this alerted his co-workers for another rescue. However, the radio operator disappeared into the water and it was not until two hours later that his body was retrieved by Coast Guard divers.

Villareal said that Geagoma’s companions told investigators they had observed him to be pensive before his suicide attempts but had no idea what caused his apparent depression.

Geagoma’s body was taken to the Universal funeral parlor for autopsy, Villareal said.