Three siblings electrocuted in swamp
CALASIAO–Three siblings were electrocuted to death at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 24, in a grounded swamp near their house in Sitio Baybay, Barangay Nagsaing, Calasiao.
The fatalities, were identified as Lenard Christian, 16; his sister Francine Leyre, 12; and Reginald Jr. 1, all surnamed Reyes.
At the time, the three were with their mother, Ginalyn, 36, at home.
Reynaldo Reyes Sr., the father of the three children, keeps vigil at the family home.
Ginalyn said they just finished their lunch and just unplugged their television when she left her baby Reynald with her daughter Francine and had instructed Lenard to wash his clothes and switch the washing machine, before she entered their toilet.
Unknown to the mother, the children went under their house to catch fish using a make-shift electro fishing gadget connected to n extension wire that was attached to an electrical outlet in their home.
She said she rushed outside when she heard something heavy dropped in the swamp under their house and found her eldest son already floating in the swamp.
To her surprise, it was not the washing machine that she ordered to be plugged but the extension wire with an open negative-positive outlet that the family uses for electric fishing.
She immediately unplugged the live wire and pulled her unconscious son from the water, calling for help from the neighbors.
Ginalyn, unaware of her daughter and baby’s whereabouts, rushed Lenard to Bolingit Pangasinan Provincial Hospital.
She said she only found what happened to her two other children when medical staff rushed them to the emergency room.
She said, her husband was in Sta. Maria town with his employer when the accident happened.
P/Chief Inspector Christopher Valerio, deputy chief of police of Calasiao, said it was Lenard Christian who was electrocuted first when he waded into the swamp, forgetting that the electro-fishing gadget was connected to the power source.
When Francine saw here brother getting electrocuted, she tried to pull Lenard Christian from the water and was electrocuted too, together with her baby brother who she was carrying at that time.
The police cautioned residents about using live wire to catch fish because it is prohibited and dangerous.
The police said the investigation is still ongoing to find out if the parents of the children or any other person was liable for the incident. (Nora Dominguez/Leonardo Micua)
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