Search resumes for missing swimmer in Cagayan de Oro River

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Coast Guard frogmen and the city’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team on Friday resumed the search and retrieval operation for a 60-year-old man who went missing while swimming in the Cagayan de Oro River in Barangay Carmen on Thursday.

Nick Jabagat, head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Department (CDRRMD), said they received a report about the incident at around 4 p.m. Thursday, prompting the immediate dispatch of a USAR team to the site.

Initial search and rescue efforts yielded negative results, and the operation was suspended overnight.

Reports said the victim was swimming along the riverbank when a strong undercurrent swept him downstream. That was the last time he was seen alive.

Jabagat said the area is accident-prone due to the strong undercurrent of the river.

Last month, a student was also reported missing and was later found dead along the coast of Macajalar Bay.

Frogmen from the Coast Guard joined the search and retrieval operation, scouring areas toward the sea.