Fil-Canadian drowns trying to save a boy in Ottawa River

Michael Lumahang died trying to save a neighbor’s child. FACEBOOK MEMORIAL PAGE PHOTO

DALY CITY, California – A Filipino Canadian man drowned while trying to help rescue a 12-year-old boy from the Ottawa River in Canada on Saturday, August 23.

Michael Lumahang, 39, of Ottawa was trying to help rescue Laurent Peralta, the 12-year-old son of a neighbor, when he was swept up in the strong current of the Ottawa River near the Champlain Bridge, his friends and family told the Ottawa Citizen.

Lumahang was picnicking with a group of eight other neighbors who lived in the same apartment complex on Cambridge Street in Centretown. They called him a hero for giving his life trying to save the boy.

Police said two men who were fishing saw young Peralta in the water. Lumahang jumped in the water to help with the rescue, but he disappeared. The police marine and dive unit and Ottawa fire rescue team searched and found his body on Sunday at about 6:35 a.m. The other man, a 24-year-old who was not with the picnickers, rescued the boy and was uninjured. Paramedics treated Peralta for mild hypothermia.

The family emigrated from the Philippines to Canada more than 20 years ago.  Lumahang worked as a cleaner in Ottawa. He is survived by his wife, Eva Soque, a caregiver, and his stepdaughter.