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'Another hell': How an Air Force officer and a 7-year-old boy swept out to sea survived


For Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Fermin Carangan, swept into the sea by super typhoon Yolanda, his will to survive was inspired by a seven-year-old child.
 
The commander of Tactical Operations Group 8, Carangan was at their headquarters near the Tacloban City airport in Leyte province when Yolanda, the world's strongest typhoon that hit land, struck on Friday.
 
He didn't know he would endure a six-hour ordeal in the middle of the sea with an unlikely companion, a seven-year-old child also carried away by Yolanda's winds and waves.
 
They ended up at the shore opposite Tacloban - in Basey, Samar, some six kilometers away from the airport.
 
It was an ordeal that defied the odds of survival from super typhoon Yolanda, believed to have killed thousands. 
 
Carangan supposedly related his experience to Lieutenant Colonel Allan Taguba, assistant chief of staff for education and training of the Army's 8th Infantry Division, who then shared Carangan's story on his personal Facebook account.

His status eventually went viral, garnering 1,448 shares as of posting time.
 
In a phone interview with GMA News Online, Lt Col. Taguba said he visited Carangan in a hospital in Camp Lukban in Catbalogan City, Samar, where he supposedly traveled from Basey after his unforgettable experience.
 
Taguba said he wrote Carangan's experiences on Facebook, as much as possible, in Carangan's own words as recalled from memory at that time they talked at the hospital in the 8th ID camp.
 
Taguba and Carangan were acquaintances when they were students in the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) - Taguba is from PMA Class 1993 while Carangan is from Class 1992.
 
Ordeal at sea 
 
It was around 7 a.m. Friday when water started to surge in the army headquarters by the sea. Carangan was accompanied by two fresh graduates from the PMA in preparation for possible rescue operations after Yolanda struck.
 
It didn't occur to them they would need rescuing themselves.
 
When the storm surge started to enter their building, Carangan and his colleagues were forced to seek higher ground so they punched a hole through the ceiling to get up the roof.
 
"Suddenly, the building collapsed and I saw my men falling into the surging water and very strong winds. Wala na ding bubong ang building," Carangan said in the account as recalled by Taguba.
 
Carangan said he was able to hold on to a triangular truss which was carried away by the waves and strong current, Carangan said.
 
His companions were not as lucky. Carangan recounts how the two fresh graduates were swallowed by the water. "(Silang) nagsisimula pa lang and have a very bright future," he said.
 
Carangan was swept by the strong current to the sea until he saw a boy clinging to the top of a coconut tree. 
 
"Palayo ako ng palayo papuntang dagat, and all I saw were tips of coconut trees starting to disappear into the swelling water. Suddenly, may nakita akong bata nakayakap ng mahigpit sa taas ng isang puno ng niyog," he said.
 
Carangan, "by a stroke of luck," was then brought near the child, who then clung onto the truss as they splashed to the middle of the sea. The child's name in Taguba's account was named "Miguel."
 
"I was able to pluck him from his very unfortunate situation. Kumapit na rin siya sa kinakapitan ko," Carangan said.

'Another hell'
 
Lost at sea, Carangan said they went through "another hell." 
 
"We were slapped by waves. Great big waves from all directions. We were also toyed by swirling winds. Madami na kami nainom na saltwater," Carangan said. 
 
"Pagod na ako. Pagod na rin si Miguel, yung kasama kong bata. He is just 7 years old. Napakabata para mamatay," he added.
 
Taguba said Carangan constantly encouraged Miguel, who was starting to feel weak from hypothermia, to hold on.
 
"I looked at Miguel. Nanginginig na siya sa lamig. His very young body could not just cope with the elements. Sabi niya 'Kuya, matutulog na ako. Pagod na ako,'" Carangan supposedly said.
 
"Then I thought, maybe I survived because of this child," Carangan supposedly said.
 
"Maybe he's the reason I'm still alive because God wants me to make sure this child will live," he added.
 
Carangan then supposedly shouted in Miguel's ears to wake him up. "Sumigaw ako sa tenga ni Miguel: 'Huwag kang matulog! Kaya mo yan! Tignan mo, malapit na tayo sa lupa'", he said.
 
Carangan then pointed at what he thought to be another wall of swelling water that could be mistaken for a shoreline, just to lift Miguel's spirits.
 
To his disbelief, it was actually the shoreline of Samar,  some six kilometers from the shore where their headquarters was located.
 
 
"I thought there really is a Powerful Being," Carangan supposedly said.
 
Carangan and Miguel was swept from Tacloban sometime 7 a.m. and ended up at the Samar shoreline around 1 p.m. 
 
In Basey, Samar, they took refuge in one of the three concrete houses that were still standing. 
 
He asked the survivors in that house to take Miguel to the nearest Department of Social Welfare and Development official they could find. All Carangan wanted, Taguba said, was to return to Tacloban city and help in rescue operations.
 
Carangan was wounded "all over," Taguba said, and he hitched a ride from a police car to the 8th ID camp in Catbalogan City, Samar.
 
He was treated in the hospital there, where he shared his story of survival with Taguba.
 
An Air Force rescue team then fetched Carangan on Sunday, Taguba said.
 
Air Force spokesperson Col. Miguel Okol said Lt. Col. Carangan is resting and is now under the custody of the Philippine Air Force.
 
Okol said Carangan would share his first-hand experience on his survival once he recovers from his wounds.
 
Taguba said he posted Carangan's ordeal to show the extent of Yolanda's damage in Tacloban city.
 
"'Yung purpose ko sa pag-post sa Facebook is to really ask for prayers... (T)o make a point na something really bad happened to Tacloban, at kailangan talaga natin magtulungan," he said. — JDS, GMA News
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