Thursday, November 11, 2004
OCTOBER AND Halcon don’t match!!!
By IRE JO V.C. LAURENTE
TODAY Correspondent
CALAPAN CITY, Oriental Mindoro - Rescuers found on Wednesday the missing nursing student dead on the slopes of Mount Halcon here more than two weeks after she was reported missing.
The body of Frana Escalante, 21, a coed at the University of Santo Tomas, was found by Mangyan volunteers who had joined the search for the missing mountaineer.
PNP 409th Mobile Group Commanding Officer Marcelino Romero, told Today that Escalante’s body was found at around midnight of Wednesday on the mountain’s rugged terrain.
Dicky Acedera, a mountaineer who joined the search and rescue operation, belied reports that Escalante was only wearing underwear when her body was found. Acedera said that the body was in the decomposing state and that Escalante still has her backpack.
He also said that one of the legs of the mountaineer was missing, surmising the UST student could have slipped and fell off a ravine.
“It rained on Sunday and there was a flash flood so possibly the body was carried by strong currents,” Acedera told Today over a mobile phone.
The Mangyans went back to barangay Lantuyan, the jump-off point of mountaineers trekking the mountain, to report to the police. At press time, the police and their Mangyan guides are traversing the trail that leads to the site where the body was found, but Romero said recovery operations are being hampered by inclement weather.
Escalante was first reported missing on October 29. She was part of the group that was supposed to climb the mountain, but did a solo ascent after she was left behind by the group.
Residents in the area had claimed that they even prevented the coed from hiking alone but she insisted adding that it was her second time to scale the mountain.
On October 27, 1994, Nephtali Lazaro also died at the peak of the mountain following a storm
INQ7 NEWS
MANGYAN natives on Thursday found the remains of a female mountaineer, who had been missing since climbing Mt. Halcon in Oriental Mindoro province early this month, a spokesman for the Philippine Air Force told INQ7.net.
Prana Escalante's remains were found wearing only her underwear, Major Restituto Padilla said.
Her belongings were also missing.
Padilla could not immediately confirm the cause of Escalante's death and why she was nearly naked in the forest.
"We no longer had leads in our search but the Mangyans pressed on," Padilla said.
The Air Force called off its search for Escalante early Wednesday.
The 21-year-old Escalante, a member of the Sierra Mountaineering Group(wrong she’s from UST-MC) and a graduating nursing student at the University of Santo Tomas, reportedly got lost while trying to catch up with her companions who went ahead in a climb to Mt. Halcon on October 29.
By IRE JO V.C. LAURENTE
TODAY Correspondent
CALAPAN CITY, Oriental Mindoro - Rescuers found on Wednesday the missing nursing student dead on the slopes of Mount Halcon here more than two weeks after she was reported missing.
The body of Frana Escalante, 21, a coed at the University of Santo Tomas, was found by Mangyan volunteers who had joined the search for the missing mountaineer.
PNP 409th Mobile Group Commanding Officer Marcelino Romero, told Today that Escalante’s body was found at around midnight of Wednesday on the mountain’s rugged terrain.
Dicky Acedera, a mountaineer who joined the search and rescue operation, belied reports that Escalante was only wearing underwear when her body was found. Acedera said that the body was in the decomposing state and that Escalante still has her backpack.
He also said that one of the legs of the mountaineer was missing, surmising the UST student could have slipped and fell off a ravine.
“It rained on Sunday and there was a flash flood so possibly the body was carried by strong currents,” Acedera told Today over a mobile phone.
The Mangyans went back to barangay Lantuyan, the jump-off point of mountaineers trekking the mountain, to report to the police. At press time, the police and their Mangyan guides are traversing the trail that leads to the site where the body was found, but Romero said recovery operations are being hampered by inclement weather.
Escalante was first reported missing on October 29. She was part of the group that was supposed to climb the mountain, but did a solo ascent after she was left behind by the group.
Residents in the area had claimed that they even prevented the coed from hiking alone but she insisted adding that it was her second time to scale the mountain.
On October 27, 1994, Nephtali Lazaro also died at the peak of the mountain following a storm
INQ7 NEWS
MANGYAN natives on Thursday found the remains of a female mountaineer, who had been missing since climbing Mt. Halcon in Oriental Mindoro province early this month, a spokesman for the Philippine Air Force told INQ7.net.
Prana Escalante's remains were found wearing only her underwear, Major Restituto Padilla said.
Her belongings were also missing.
Padilla could not immediately confirm the cause of Escalante's death and why she was nearly naked in the forest.
"We no longer had leads in our search but the Mangyans pressed on," Padilla said.
The Air Force called off its search for Escalante early Wednesday.
The 21-year-old Escalante, a member of the Sierra Mountaineering Group(wrong she’s from UST-MC) and a graduating nursing student at the University of Santo Tomas, reportedly got lost while trying to catch up with her companions who went ahead in a climb to Mt. Halcon on October 29.
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