Toddler dies when boat capsized in Iloilo

Iloilo City, Philippines—A toddler of barely two years old died after the motorized outrigger boat that his family boarded from a beach outing capsized before reaching the port of Banate town in Iloilo Province on Thursday afternoon.

Fishermen who came to their rescue found the body of Jerico Palma, one year and nine months old, trapped inside the capsized pump boat.

Geline Palma, the boy’s mother, said they came from the Introbuhan Beach Resort located off Banate town.

The Palma family lives in PD Monfort North Dumagas in Iloilo.

Palma said the pump boat which they boarded was about 250 meters away from the Banate port when seawater started to become turbulent.

“Suddenly the wind blew so hard and the wave were so big. It hit the pump boat causing the vessel to go upside down,” Palma said in an interview over RMN-Iloilo.

Close to 30 members of the Palma family went on a beach outing on Thursday as “despedida” for a family member who is leaving for Saudi Arabia on June 19.

Boat Captain Felimon Cosca said insisted that his pump boat was not overloaded to dispel suspicions that overloading may have caused the sea tragedy.

But Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) personnel in Iloilo City said that a 16 horsepower (Hp) motor is not enough for a pump boat that carried nearly 30 individuals.

PCG is now investigating the incident. TVJ