2 kids drown in abandoned pit at UP campus

MANILA, Philippines—A 12-year-old girl and her younger brother drowned Wednesday afternoon while playing in an uncovered pit filled with rainwater at the National Hydraulic Research Center at the University of the Philippines campus in Quezon City, police said Thursday.

Ilyssa Denise Garcia, 12, and her brother Ernest Miguel, 9, were rushed to a hospital after rescuers pulled them out of the pit but they were beyond help, police said.

A passing woman saw the kids’ arms flailing in the water and called for help, police investigator Police Officer 2 Julius Balbuena said. He said the children lived at the UP Arboretum area.

Ilyssa was a first year high school student at the Flora High School while Ernest was a third grade pupil at  the Mines Elementary School.

The Garcia siblings were seen playing in the water but at around 4 p.m.  a woman noticed that the kids seemed to be in trouble, Balbuena said. She then asked for help from teenaged boys in the area.

The two were plucked out of the water and were rushed by Barangay UP Campus rescuers to the East Avenue Medical Center, but it was too late.