Girl, 5, drowns in Antipolo City

A five-year-old girl drowned when she fell into a ditch while retrieving her slippers in Antipolo City over the weekend.

Bystanders rushed the victim, Jonabel Mendoza, of Sitio Broadway, Barangay De la Paz, to the Antipolo District Hospital, but doctors failed to revive her.

Senior Superintendent Freddie Panen, Rizal police director, said Mendoza was walking along the ditch in Barangay De la Paz at about 1 p.m. Saturday when her slippers fell into the water.

Panen said the girl tried to retrieve her slippers, but the strong current carried her away.

Meanwhile, the police have launched a search and rescue operation for Jhun Carl Raya, 18, who disappeared after diving in a river in Sitio Sanakai, also in Barangay De la Paz, last Saturday. — Non Alquitran