Nine-year-old Yuri Mike was swept away by a rising river in Barangay Budlaan, Cebu City, at 2:45 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, after playing in the rain and trying to retrieve a ball.
Disaster response teams from Cebu and Mandaue cities, the Bureau of Fire Protection, and barangay responders conducted an overnight search for the missing boy despite difficult conditions and rising floodwaters.
Jonathan Torres found Yuri Mike’s body past 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026, caught among plastic trash and mud in Sitio Toril, Barangay Tingub, Mandaue City, ending the search.
ROSALIE Repaja called her son home to eat on Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 15, 2026, but Yuri Mike wanted to stay outside and play in the rain.
Then the nine-year-old boy fell into the river in Barangay Budlaan, Cebu City.
That night, with Yuri missing and the river still rising, she pleaded for him to be found.
“Nagsige ko og ampo ug pakiluoy, ‘Anak, bisan asa ka karon, palihog ipakita ang imong kaugalingon kanamo’,” Repaja said.
(I kept praying and pleading, “My child, wherever you are now, please show yourself to us.”)
However, her plea was answered with a grim news past 9 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16. Yuri Mike’s body was found in Sitio Toril, Barangay Tingub, Mandaue City, and the overnight search by relatives and rescuers ended.
Playing with other children
Yuri Mike had been swept away at 2:45 p.m. Tuesday in a river near Sitio Gawad Kalinga in Budlaan. He had gone outside to play and bathe in the rain as heavy downpours brought flooding to the area.
Rosalie said she told him to come home for a meal, but he refused. He stayed with three other children on a concrete riprap along the river.
As the water rose and the current grew stronger, relatives warned the children to move away, but they remained near the river.
City Councilor Dave Tumulak said Yuri Mike had tried to retrieve a ball that rolled into the river before the current swept him toward Sitio Metavill in Barangay Talamban.
A surge of floodwater rushed through the area while the children were playing, with one of Yuri Mike’s companions trying to hold on to him before he fell into the deep water.
People nearby and one of the children tried to rescue him, but the current swept the boy.
Searching through the night
Disaster response teams from the cities of Cebu and Mandaue, the Bureau of Fire Protection and Budlaan barangay responders joined the search, according to the initial report.
Rescuers continued through the night despite difficult conditions, while Yuri Mike’s family held on to the hope that he would be found.
“Gabii na ug nag-uwan na usab ug misaka ang tubig sa baha. Dili na namo ikaw makita kung mosaka pa ang tubig. Sakit kaayo, pero kinahanglan na lang gyud nako kini dawaton karon (It was already night and it was raining again and the floodwater was rising. We would no longer be able to find you if the water rose any higher. It hurts so much, but I have to accept this now),” Repaja said.
Discovery
By Wednesday morning, the floodwater had begun to recede.
Jonathan Torres, a Tingub resident checking the riverbank, spotted what turned out to be Yuri Mike’s body caught among plastic trash and mud.
“Sa sinugdan, wala ko maghunahuna nga tawo kini tungod kay taas pa ang tubig ug abi nako patay lang nga iro (At first, I did not think it was a person because the water was still high and I thought it was just a dead dog),” he said.
“Apan samtang miubos ang lebel sa tubig, gitan-aw nako pag-ayo ang lapok ug nakita nako ang likod ug ang bukton. Ang iyang ulo hingpit nga nalubong sa lapok ilawom sa tubig (But as the water level fell, I looked closely at the mud and saw his back and arm. His head was completely buried in the mud underwater),” he added.
Torres alerted a passing motorcyclist, who reported the discovery to barangay officials.
Local police and crime scene operatives later recovered the body.
Despite her grief, Repaja still thanked the neighbors, relatives and rescue teams who had stayed through the night to help find her son. / ABC