34 tourists, boatmen rescued in Cavinti, Laguna

The Laguna police on Wednesday morning rescued all 34 foreign nationals and Filipinos who were trapped in a cave in Cavinti town in Laguna after the Pagsanjan River overflowed due to heavy rains. Senior Police Officer (PO) 4 Bart Jamito, deputy chief of the Cavinti police, told GMANews.TV that the local police rescued 17 tourists: 11 Korean nationals, two Japanese nationals, and four Filipinos. At least 12 boat men were also rescued from the incident. Jamito said the Pagsanjan police rescued five other Korean nationals. Laguna Police Officer 1 Rolando Narvadez said the tourists were trapped inside the "Demon Cave" at El Pueblo Salvador Resort between 4 and 5 p.m., Tuesday. Authorities received a distress signal at around 5 p.m. but they had to wait for the water level to subside before they carried out the rescue operations. Four people were initially rescued when the water level went down about 10:30 p.m. while the remaining tourists and boatmen were saved by 2 a.m. Wednesday. "They were frolicking in the waterfalls and as they were about to leave, the flashflood suddenly came rushing. They were trapped in the middle of the falls and their boats capsized," Jamito said in Filipino. Boat men had to toss the tourists up the large rocks sticking out from the riverbed inside the cave, authorities said. The Korean nationals were initially identified as Ha Min Ji, Ha Kyo Woo, Hur Wa On, Kim Jeon Hun, Kim Hyu Young, Bang Yang Nam, Cheon Sun Sook, Bang Hye Jin, and Ban Jin Sic. The Japanese nationals were identified as Satoshi Ono and Atsushi Caco, while the rescued Filipino were identified as Ailene Villianos-Ono, Vera Salem, and Genlani Vistal. DzBB earlier said among the boatmen who were trapped were identified by the Red Cross as Garino Encero and Philip Labalesi, who were brought to the Bonanza Resort. Jamito said that the Korean consul already took custody of all the Korean nationals, who only suffered minor bruises. - MARK MERUEÑAS, GMANews.TV