Man jumps 3x from ship, saved; drowns on 4th try

A shipping company radio operator who apparently turned suicidal before dawn Friday jumped thrice into the waters of Manila Bay, each time rescued and later restrained by coworkers, before making a ruse that enabled him to take a fourth dive that proved fatal.

The repeated jumps all happened in less than an hour, making the case one of the most bizarre suicides recorded by the Manila Police District.

The body of Alexander Geagoma, 38, an employee of Sulpicio Lines Inc. based at North Harbor in Tondo, Manila, was fished out of the bay by Coast Guard personnel two hours after his death leap.

Senior Police Officer 2 Virgo Villareal of the MPD homicide section said the victim first jumped into the water a few minutes past 3 a.m. from a docked tugboat at North Harbor’s Pier 10.

Security guards rushing to the scene managed to save him. But as soon as he was raised back to the tugboat, Geagoma ran toward the other side of the vessel and again jumped overboard, the investigator said.

Geagoma was again rescued, but he jumped for the third time. After his third jump, his coworkers thought it wise to restrain him and made him promise that he would never do it again.

Geagoma gave them his word and was eventually let loose. As he got off the tugboat, his coworkers thought he would proceed to the Sulpicio Lines Office.

But Geogama walked instead toward the MV Palawan, a barge docked nearby, and from there jumped into the water for the fourth time at around 3:40 am.

The workers and security guards again scrambled for another rescue, but this time the radio operator disappeared in the water.

Based on statements from Geagoma’s colleagues, the victim appeared pensive and depressed days before the suicide but spoke to no one in the workplace about anything that was troubling him, Villareal said.

Geagoma’s body was brought to the Universal funeral parlor in Sta. Cruz, Manila. Jeannette I. Andrade