2 Chinese divers drown in Cebu island

MANILA, Philippines - Two Chinese nationals who joined a group of divers from China that flew into the country for a weekend diving expedition drowned in an island dive site in Cebu.

Reports reaching Camp Camp identified the Chinese fatalities as Pang Chi Lung and Cheung Joanne Wai.

The two were among the group of Chinese divers headed by dive instructor Cheung Hung Kam from Hong Kong who arrived at Olongo Island and checked in at Paradive HK Scuba Diving Resort at Barangay Engano Friday for a scheduled weekend dive.

Investigation showed that the victims failed to surface after a 40-minute dive at about 8 a.m. the other day, prompting their dive instructor to conduct an underwater search for them.

When found, the two were already unconscious underwater and were hurriedly brought up to the surface. They were rushed to the Mactan Doctors Hospital but they were declared dead on arrival.

As requested by their group, the victims’ bodies were taken to the Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes for autopsy to determine the cause of their death.

Meanwhile, the dive shop owner Devora Figuerao, in whose place the victims have checked in, immediately brushed off speculations that the victims could have died due to defective local diving gears.

She told probers that the Chinese scuba divers brought along with them their own diving gears as well as their dive instructor all the way from Hong Kong.   – Jaime Laude