Body of drowning victim found

The Department of Public Safety’s Search and Rescue Unit recovered yesterday morning the body of a man who drowned while fishing along the cliff lines of Marine Beach in Kagman.

DPS spokesperson Lei Ogumoro said that rescuers recovered the body of Hilario M. Palino along the shoreline near the northern side of Marine Beach yesterday at 8:51am.

Ogumoro said Palino was transported to the Commonwealth Health Center where a doctor pronounced him dead at 10:26am.

Palino, 42, a Filipino stevedore, was swept out to sea with two others while fishing. Benjamin Tejada, and his wife, Elsa Aldan, survived.

Palino was employed with Saipan Stevedore for 10 years and eight months. He lived in Kagman 2 with his wife and five children.

Ogumoro said DPS members were joined in the search by members of the Dive Rescue Team, Emergency Management Office, and Commonwealth Ports Authority. She said 10 divers were deployed for the sea search while Search and Rescue Unit members scoured the cliff lines.

Ogumoro said the search operation ceased at 9:58am, after the body was retrieved.

Ogumoro advised the public to refrain from fishing in areas where waves are high and ocean currents are strong. “Members of the community are strongly recommended to take precautionary measures when conducting fishing activities,” she said.

Tejada, 52, a heavy equipment mechanic, said he was actually the first one who fell and was dragged out to sea after a wave that was “as big as a house” struck them.

Tejada said he and his wife, Aldan, had arrived at Marine Beach Tuesday at 8:30am to fish using a rod and reel. After a few minutes, Palino joined them.

He said the three atulai fish recovered by the rescue team on Tuesday were actually Palino bait as he was after a bigger catch.

Tejada said Palino did not manage to catch any fish because the incident happened about 30 minutes after the victim came.

Tejada said Palino was about 10 feet away from him, while Aldan was just on the side of the reef lines.

When the incident happened, Tejada said, Palino was wondering about the big waves, considering that it was low tide.

“As he mentioned the word waves, I suddenly saw a wave as big as a house coming at us,” said Tejada in Tagalog.

Tejada said he was swept off the cliff area while Palino was pushed to the pool area. He said the wave twisted him and carried him out to the open sea.

“I was dragged under the sea. I had to remove the fishing line that was tangled around my body, then I decided to swim farther out from the cliff lines,” Tejada said.

As he was swimming back to the cliff lines, he said another big wave came.

Tejada said he saw Palino being dragged out to sea and trying to stay afloat.

Tejada said that while underwater, he heard strange noises like the crying of people and other loud noises like cars and broken glasses, prompting him to cover his ears. He said he also saw an underwater cave and a big shark.

He said he almost lost consciousness because he had swallowed a lot of seawater and had to punch his stomach so he would vomit.

Tejada was later pinned between two rocks. When another wave hit him, his stomach hit the corrals.

“That helped because I vomited again,” said Tejada, pointing to bruises in his body.

Tejada slowly climbed to the cliff line, where Aldan came and pulled him up.

Aldan said she brought Tejada to the side of the cliff line and ran to a nearby house where she asked for help from Adilihna Seman.

Seman, 51, called the police as her husband and Aldan went back to the beach.

Aldan and Mr. Seman took the injured and very exhausted Tejada and brought him to shore.

Aldan said Mr. Seman had wanted to rescue Palino, whose body could be seen floating in the sea, but the waves were big and the current was rough.

Tejada suspects that Palino may have gotten entangled in his fishing line, that’s why he could hardly swim.

DPS received the call of the incident Tuesday at 9:39am.

Search and Rescue teams, a DPS rescue boat, and a Navy helicopter responded to the area, but big waves hampered their recovery operation that day.