Researcher drowns in Basilan river

BASILAN, Philippines — A researcher drowned as she was having a picnic with her friends in a river in Maluso town in this province on Saturday.

Desire Mae Somobay, 26, was swept away by the downstream current of the Mahayahay River, which suddenly swelled due to heavy rains in the forests of a nearby mountain.

Somobay was part of a team of researchers commissioned by the Department of Science and Technology -Food and Nutrition Research Institute to conduct a study on the socio-economic profile of Maluso, one of the 11 towns in this province.

Maluso Mayor Hanie Bud thanked the municipal police and the Army’s 68th Infantry Battalion for helping retrieve the body of Somobay.

“It was an accident. She and her co-workers went there for a weekend outing,” Bud said.

Barangay officials rescued Somobay’s companion and rushed her to a hospital for treatment of injuries.

The town of Maluso, formerly a lair of the Abu Sayyaf bandit group, has been dec-lared as a peace zone.

It was twice awarded the Seal of Good Local Governance by the Department of the Interior and Local Government during the past years.