7-year-old drowns in Bataan beach

MANILA, Philippines - A summer vacation turned into tragedy as a seven-year-old girl drowned in a beach resort in Bataan province over the weekend, a radio report said early Tuesday. Radio dzRH reported the incident occurred at Bagac town, where Nicole Modesto, 7, of Tondo in Manila, drowned after wandering into a deeper part of the water. Initial police investigation showed Nicole disappeared at about 2 p.m. Sunday, with a boatman finding her body a few meters from shore some hours later. The boatman, who the report did not name, tried to administer first aid on Nicole but decided to rush her to a hospital where she was declared dead on arrival. The incident prompted Bagac police head Inspector Marlon Cudal to order owners of beach resorts in the area to place tethers on lifesavers to keep them from drifting away.