A 17-YEAR-OLD boy died after he drowned in a river at Barangay Manalad in Ilog, Negros Occidental Sunday afternoon.

Police Officer 2 Junason Villanueva, investigator of Ilog Municipal Police Station, identified the fatality as Jovel Gomilla Jr. of the said village.

Villanueva said Gomilla and his two other friends went to the river for a swim around 2:40 p.m.

The victim tried to cross the river but a few minutes later, his friends did not see him.

They searched for him and found him already drowning.

His two friends called for assistance.

Gomilla was rushed to a hospital, where he was declared dead.