A 10-YEAR-OLD boy was found dead Thursday morning after drowning in Cagayan de Oro River at Zone 7, Acacia street in Barangay Carmen.
Jaylord Teleron and his friends went to the river beside their houses to take a quick swim Wednesday afternoon.
"Akong nakit-an, naligo sila pero si Jaylord, nadala sa kusog na agos sa river while galangoy siya," neighbor Sophia Sordillo said.
She said the kids still bathed into the river even as she reprimanded them not to.
Sordillo said she witnessed how Teleron was swept away by the river's current.
"Nagsige lang ko ug syagit ug nangayog tabang kay dili gayud ko kabalo mulangoy," Sordillo said.
Romeo Martinez, another neighbor, said he tried to rescue Teleron immediately after Sordillo asked for help but Teleron was already nowhere near where they bathed.
Martinez said Teleron might have expected that the river was shallow since it looks like it.
"Pero kung musalom gyud ka, lalom man gayud," he added.
Martinez said the two other kids who were with Teleron when the incident happened were traumatized and fell silent for hours.
Meanwhile, Sordillo complained the late arrival of the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office in rescuing the boy.
"Halos isa ka oras pa before naabot ang rescue grabe nakong tawag pero dugay before pa nitubag, mao gayud wala na gayud hinuon nadali pagrescue ang bata," Sordillo said.
His body was fished out near the Marcos bridge.