Julius Lador, 14, and Geraline Arisga, both second year high school students at the Abellana National High School, and their friends were reportedly eager to swim in the river in Sitio Buwaka in Toong.
Arisga went to the deep part of the river. When Lador saw Arisga thrashing about, he tried to rescue her.
Lador failed to surface, prompting his classmates to call for help from residents.
After both students were pulled out from the water, their classmates applied CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation) on them while waiting for an ambulance.
Lador did not make it alive at the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC). Arisga was rushed from the emergency room to the pediatric ward when doctors found she still had a pulse.
The students just finished their final exams yesterday morning. They decided not to go back to school in the afternoon but instead go for a swim.
A student who resides in Buhisan told reporters that the friends of both Lador and Arisga met at her house several days ago.
They had planned to go to Buhisan dam.
But after a habal-habal driver asked them if they have been to the river in Toong, the 10 teenagers opted to go there.
Lador and his friends went to Toong around 2 p.m., riding a habal-habal or motorcycle-for-hire.
Although her friends were against the trip, Arisga insisted. Arisga’s group shortly followed Lador’s, also riding a habal-habal.
It was reportedly the third time Lador’s group went to the mountain barangay, while it was the first time for Arisga’s group.
Auxilum Buat, the students’ adviser, refused to give details of the incident.
The parents of Lador and Arisga went to CCMC late afternoon yesterday. They refused to be questioned.
The rest of the classmates of Lador and Arisga also said they were not allowed by their teachers to speak to anyone. (NRC)
