Tourist, student drown in Boracay

ILOILO CITY, Philippines—A student and a tourist drowned while four other persons were rescued while swimming in rough waters in Boracay Wednesday morning, tourism officials and police said.

Inspector Fidel Gentallan, deputy chief of the Boracay Tourist Assistance Center, as the police detachment on the island is called, said five students of Arellano University in Metro Manila taking up hotel and restaurant management were swimming in front of a resort in Barangay Balabag when they were swept away by big waves.

He said a tourist identified as Dabie Pedrosa tried to help the students but he drowned. One of the students, Gino Socito, 20, also drowned.

The four other students were rescued. Three of them were taken to the provincial hospital in the capital town of Kalibo.