Teenager drowns during field trip

A 15-year-old boy drowned during a school outing in Mantayupan Falls, barangay Mantayupan, Barili town, around 9 a.m. yesterday.

The victim was identified as Jerome Rancho, a 4th year high school student of the Sisters of Mary Boys Town in Minglanilla town and a resident of barangay Bug-ot, Argao town.

PO2 Estiliore Cañete said the victim was on a field trip with other students and their adviser Pinky Salem. He was swimming with his classmates when he suddenly disappeared.

Cañete said that the school often holds outings in the place, but this is the first time someone drowned.

Divers found his body under the water and retrieved it around 4 p.m. The body was later brought to a local funeral home in the same town for an autopsy. - Mary Gold C. Sagarino, UP Cebu Masscom intern/BRP