Two kids rescued from flooded creek

Two kids were rescued exhausted but unhurt after floodwaters due to heavy rains swept them into a creek along General Maxilom Avenue, barangay Camputhaw yesterday afternoon.

The minors, aged 10 and 14, were separately rescued, one by a concerned citizen and the other by tanods of barangay Zapatera led by barangay captain Francisco Benedicto.

One of their companions was an 11-year-old girl who told The Freeman that they were gathering scrap iron when the rain suddenly poured, prompting them to take a nap under the bridge. Heavy rains drenched the city noon yesterday causing floods in mountain barangays that led to the swelling of creeks in the city.

The kids were eventually awakened by the sound of oncoming water from upstream, but before they could react, the waters swept upon them taking the 10-year-old and the 14-year-old away.

Police hotline 166 flashed the alarm around noontime informing barangays through which the creek passes to look for the two kids.

The Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation joined in the search checking all bridges running across the creek going up to Pier 3 where some members of the Philippine Coast Guard-Cebu station on board their rubber boats also conducted their own search.

Benedicto said that upon hearing the alarm, he and his tanods proceeded to the bridges in their area since the creek from where the two kids fell passes through his barangay.

They saw the 14-year-old boy a few minutes later clinging to the bank of the creek in sitio San Jose, barangay Zapatera. Tanods then pulled the boy to safety and brought him to the barangay hall.

The rescued boy told The Freeman that he tried to go after his other companion but the current was too strong.

"Apason man ta nako siya, unya nawagtang man siya, naglisod naman ko og langoy kay suyopon man ko pailawom nikapyot nalang ko sa mga balili,"

The 10-year-old boy was fished out of the water near the bridge along Echavez Street by an unknown man.

Benedicto said there were six kids in the group resting under the bridge, two girls and four boys. He believes they were sniffing industrial glue when the floodwaters hit them.

The 11-year-old and the 14-year-old denied they were sniffing rugby at the time but admitted they did it earlier, a few hours before the incident.

Last August 31, 2006, six people from a single family, three children aged six, seven and three; Prescilla Balagapo, 35; Elsa Gocela, 38, and their helper drowned after a concrete wall collapsed, trapping them in their house right beside the swollen creek in sitio Sindulan, barangay Mabolo, Cebu City.

The city government has warned that building houses near creeks or waterways is illegal since it blocks the waterways and is dangerous.

Many demolitions have been carried out against such houses. - Edwin Ian Melecio