40-Year-Old Man From Burdeos, Quezon Dies After Leaping Into the Sea From Ferry Bound for Marinduque
A 40-year-old passenger died after he allegedly jumped off a commercial vessel sailing from Lucena City in Quezon to Marinduque on Sunday evening, November 8.
The man, a resident of Barangay San Rafael in Burdeos, Quezon, was aboard M/V Virgen de Peñafrancia XVI, which was on its way to the Port of Balanacan in Mogpog, Marinduque, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said in a report on Monday, as reported by Inquirer.net.
Based on the report, the incident happened at around 5:23 p.m. Passengers and crew members who saw the man go overboard immediately alerted authorities, prompting a rescue operation.
The Coast Guard sea marshal on board, Seaman First Class Galicia, spotted the passenger in the water. However, the rough sea reportedly made it unsafe for the vessel to move closer to him.
The man was eventually pulled out of the water at around 5:37 p.m. Coast Guard personnel from Coast Guard Station Marinduque and responders from the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on him while the ship continued its trip to port.
The Coast Guard Sub-Station in Mogpog also coordinated with the local disaster risk reduction and management office so that an ambulance and a medical team would be waiting at the dock.
The vessel docked at Balanacan Port at around 7:25 p.m. The passenger was rushed to the Marinduque Provincial Hospital, where the attending physician declared him dead at around 7:48 p.m. The cause of death was asphyxia by drowning.
According to the PCG, closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage from the Coast Guard and the vessel master reportedly showed that the passenger deliberately climbed over the guardrails on the portside of the ship.
Coast Guard Station Marinduque is now coordinating with Coast Guard Station Northern Quezon to inform the victim’s family and to help with the needed arrangements.
If you or someone you know is going through a difficult time, you may reach the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) Crisis Hotline at 1553.
