|
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Boy, 2 others die in boat joy ride
A New Year’s Day joyride ended in tragedy when a couple and their three-year-old son drowned after an overloaded outrig-ger boat capsized off the southern town of Boljoon, Cebu.
Five others survived.
The boat, used for line fishing, was built for just three people. It carried eight, including the boat owner’s son, who took the blame for the incident.
Kevin Bequilla, whose father owns the boat, said he invited the victims to a boat ride that afternoon. Most of the victims, the Bequillas’ family friends, did not know how to swim.
Fishermen nearby rescued the victims and rushed them to the Oslob District Hospital in the next town, but Lucena Licayan, 25, Marlon Abriol, 26, and their son Wendell did not make it.
Among the survivors is the nephew of former Supreme Court chief justice Hilario Davide Jr.
SPO1 Reyco Romaguer-ra said he was surprised that the seven passengers and Bequilla, the skipper, decided to go through with the boat ride.
“Kung makakita pa ka sa pump boat, makapa-ngutana gyud ka nganong mipugos to sila og sakay (If you saw the boat, you’d be wondering why they insisted on boarding),” Romaguerra told Sun.Star Cebu in a telephone interview.
Windy
The boat capsized off Sitio Cayangon Reef, Barangay North Granada, about three kilometers away from the town proper around 4 p.m.
The group spent 30 minutes in the waters off South Granada. On their way back to North Granada, the boat capsized some 300 meters away from the shore.
Kevin Bequilla, 20, invited close friends Gerald Davide, 20, Alma Derain Licayan, 20, Flordeliza Licayan, 21, as well as Lucena, Marlon and their children Wendell and one-year-old Myla Abriol, for a boat ride.
Because it was windy, the waves were choppy.
“Pagpatay nako sa makina kay padulong nami sa baybayon nikalit ug katikyaob ang pump boat...nakonsensya ko (When I turned the engine off on our way to the shore, the boat suddenly capsized. My conscience bothered me),” Bequilla said over TV Patrol.
Gerald, the former chief justice’s nephew, said Lucena would have survived because she was among those who had grabbed on to the boat’s outrigger when it capsized and climb the boat’s hull. But she tried to save her son and husband.
“We were standing on the boat’s hull but when she saw Wendell floating and her husband underwater, she jumped into the sea and embraced the boy, until both of them failed to surface,” Gerard said in Cebuano over radio dyLA.
Saved
Bequilla said Lucena’s one-year-old daughter Myla survived the accident when Lucena threw the baby to them.
“She would toss the baby in the air so she won’t drink seawater, then threw the baby at us on the hull,” Gerard said.
SPO1 Romaguerra believes that when the boat turned back to shore, the waves hit the boat, causing it to capsize.
Attending physician Pacita Sy declared Wendell and his parents dead on arrival, while Flordeliza was placed under observation.
Myla, who is a year and two months old, was unharmed because the fishermen made sure to rescue her first.
Romaguerra said the relatives don’t have plans to file charges against Kevin and his father Lope, who owns the boat, because they were close family friends.
Kevin said he was sorry for the incident and regretted that the boat ride ended in tragedy. (MEA/AIV)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (January 3, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
