6-yr-old boy, 8-yr-old sister drown in Quirino irrigation canal

CABARROGUIS, Quirino – A six-year-old boy and his eight-year-old sister drowned on Sunday (April 23) in an irrigation canal at Aglipay town in Quirino province.

Jerome, 6, and Lyka Ligsay, 8, were swept by water current after they attempted to help a third child, eight-year-old Jerson Gandia, who fell into the canal.

Jerson managed to grab hold of a piece of wood, and swam toward the shallow end of the canal. The remains of Jerome and Lyka have been recovered.

The children were playing while the siblings’ parents, village councilor Dilmar and Divina Ligsay, toiled at a nearby cornfield in Rang-ayan village, according to Senior Insp. Rafael Madrid, Aglipay deputy police chief./ac