1 DEAD, 6 MISSING AS FLASHFLOODS SWEEP PICKUP TRUCK IN CEBU

A FAMILY outing ended in tragedy when the truck they were riding was swept by  flashfloods on Monday in Carmen, Cebu.

Police identified the fatality as 11-year-old Arshane Bejoc. Her body was recovered on a shoreline in Bgy. Loay in Carmen town.

The missing  were Rhesamie Costan, 25; Elmer Costan, 25; Mike Stanley Tungal, 15; Clarrise Ypil, 13; Aishie Hermoso, 12;   and Nathaniel Lozano, 12.

It was learned that Rhesamie and Elmer were married only last Saturday, July 6.

Investigation showed the pickup truck was carrying a total of 17 passengers, mostly children, and tried to cross the spillway in a river in Bgy. Cantumog, a mountain barangay in Carmen.

A huge volume of flood waters hit the truck and swept it away, along with the passengers.

The pickup truck later got stuck in a rock at the middle of the river.

Police said of the 17 people in the pickup truck, 10 were rescued.

Six of the passengers, who fell from the pickup truck and were swept away by the river, have remained missing.

The victims were on their way home from a party in a mountainous resort in Bgy. Natimao-an in Carmen town when the incident happened at 5 p.m. on Monday.

Search and rescue operations are ongoing.