2 boys drown in quarry site

Quarrying pit (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / RAFFY LERMA)

ILOILO CITY — Two boys aged 10 and 9 drowned at the quarry site filled with rainwater past 6 p.m. on Monday in Anilao town, Iloilo.

The fatalities were identified as Khian Bezardo, 10, and his friend Aljie Genderba, 9, both residents of Barangay Cag-an, Anilao.

PO1 Marvin Pugasa, Anilao police investigator, said the two boys were seen by a security guard, biking toward the quarry pit.

The guard told the children to leave because it was already dusk and the area was dangerous.

“But the guard didn’t know that the boys went to the other side of the soil stockpile where the quarry pit is located,” Pugasa said.

After a few minutes, the guard patrolled the quarry site and found the two bicycles abandoned in the area. He decided to bring the bikes to the residence of Bezardo.

When the boy’s father saw the bicicyles, he got nervous and went to the quarry site.

Bezardo’s father saw two pairs of slippers floating in the quarry pit.

He then used the backhoe to drain the water but halfway, the father decided to dive into the water and look for his son.

“It took them almost 30 minutes to recover the bodies of the victims. They were rushed to the Barotac Nuevo District Hospital in Barotac Nuevo town where the victims were declared dead on arrival,” Pugasa
said in dialect.

Pugasa said he estimated the water inside the quarry pit was 14 feet deep and the pit, about 10 meters in diameter.

The families of the victims were living outside the quarry site where most members worked.  SFM