8 dead as boat sinks in Laguna de Bay

SAN PEDRO CITY — Eight people, two of them children, drowned after their fishing boat capsized in a section of Laguna de Bay in Binangonan town in Rizal province on Sunday. Jose Hernandez III, disaster risk reduction and management officer in Binangonan, said the boat was carrying 13 people when the accident happened at 1:30 p.m.

he victims, who were friends and relatives from Cainta town and Taguig City, came from a birthday celebration in a nipa hut in a fishpen in the lake.

They were Malou Candol, Marilou Papa, Rolino Fariño Jr., Weldy Orteza, Frederick Orteza and Dimareth Mendoza.

Two children, Jianna Jenzen Fariño, 2, and Sean Wilfred Orteza, 9, also died. Hernandez said fishermen saw the boat tilt before it capsized as it was about 3 kilometers away from the shoreline.

Hernandez, quoting witnesses and survivors, said the victims, prior the accident, were seen taking group pictures on the boat,  which might have caused the vessel to tip over.

He said water in that part of the lake was about 7-foot deep. None of the passengers wore a life jacket. —Maricar Cinco