Trainee dead after passing out during Army training in Zambo del Sur

PAGADIAN CITY – A 23-year-old trainee, who fell into coma after fainting during a routine exercise with other trainees at an Army training school in Labangan, Zamboanga del Sur, has now died, the military said on Monday.

Major Ronald Suscano, the head of the 1st Infantry Division’s Public Affairs Office, said Randell Berin died on January 14 at the Pagadian City Medical Center (PCMC) in this city.

Suscano said Berin and several other trainees were performing physical training inside the 1st ID headquarters in Labangan when he fainted on January 10.

He said Berin was immediately rushed by colleagues to the camp’s Station Hospital and was revived by the attending physicians. He was transferred to the PCMC but fell into coma and died four days later.

Citing the medical report released by the hospital, Suscano said Berin had “hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy,” a condition arising from the lack of oxygen flow to the brain.

Suscano said even if Berin was yet to become a regular soldier, the 1st ID has extended assistance to his relatives that included P70,000 in hospital bill and P80,000 in burial expenses, among others.                  /kga