Pinoy drowns while trying to save 12-year-old kababayan in Ottawa


A Filipino earned the collective admiration of Ottawa residents after he died trying to save a Filipino boy from drowning last month, a report on Ottawa Citizen said.

The report said 39-year-old Michael Lumahang was swept away by strong current while trying to save a neighbor's 12-year-old son in the Ottawa River.

“I owe him my son’s second life,” said Cynthia Peralta, mother of  Laurent Peralta, the boy Lumahang tried to save. “For me, he’s a hero.”

According to the report, the incident happened while Lumahang was having a picnic near the river with a group of neighbors, which included Laurent and his sister.

It said Lumahang took Laurent to the shore of the island to fish, but the boy went too far from the shore and got caught up in the current.

Lumahang and a bystander went to save the boy, but unfortunately Lumahang was swept away by the raging rapids.

Laurent, on the other hand, was rescued by the bystander and was treated for mild hypothermia by the paramedics who responded to the scene.

The Ottawa Citizen report said it took divers several hours to find Lumahang's body.

A separate report on CTV Ottawa quoted Lumahang’s family as saying he had swimming lessons as a child in the Philippines.

“He was always helpful," said Michael Tremblay, Lumahang's stepfather. "He was always there to help everyone all the time.”

Lumahang, married, emigrated from the Philippines to Canada more than 20 years ago with his family, according to the Ottawa Citizen report. He worked as a cleaner in Ottawa and had a half-sister in the Philippines. —KBK, GMA News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more