HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Two separate searches for missing swimmers have been suspended by the Guam Fire Department, amounting to the first presumed deaths related to Typhoon Mawar.
As of Saturday afternoon, the efforts to locate the pair, who were swept out by strong waves at different points during the cyclone’s passage were suspended.
“No findings at either case,” GFD spokesperson Kevin Reilly told The Guam Daily Post on Saturday, confirming neither were rescued or recovered.
The first search, which began at 10 a.m. Thursday, stemmed from reports of an 18-year-old and another man who went swimming around Alupang Island around 2 p.m. on Wednesday before they were swept out by large waves north of the island by Rick’s Reef.
The 18-year-old was unable to pull the other swimmer from the rough waters as the weather was rapidly deteriorating during Typhoon Mawar. The man reported it after the typhoon passed.
Reilly told the Post the search was suspended on Friday at noon due to no findings being made.
Hågat search
The second search was launched at 5:20 p.m. Thursday, when units responded to the Hågat Marina channel for six distressed swimmers, all males, ranging in age from 16 to 19 years old.
Reilly explained the six people were swept out by strong currents and three were able to make it back to shore. The fourth male was brought back by rescue personnel and the fifth was retrieved outside the reef line, pulseless and breathless.
The sixth male, however, was still unaccounted for and GFD searched through Thursday and Friday with the help of the U.S. Navy’s Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25, or HSC-25, helicopters.
On Saturday, Reilly told the Post the search was suspended at noon because there was no evidence or discoveries.
No updated status on the fifth person, who was transported to an area hospital, has been released by government officials as of 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
Advisories
Both GFD and the Guam Environmental Protection Agency urged the community to stay away from all the island’s 43 beaches, for several reasons.
“The Guam Fire Department urges the community to please postpone all water-related activities until the weather and seas are more favorable,” Reilly said.
Guam EPA issued a special beach advisory because of the large amount of rain dumped on the island from Typhoon Mawar.
“Stormwater runoff, pooled water, or areas of flooding may contain high concentrations of unsafe bacteria,” the Joint Information Center stated in a press release.
“Recreational activities at unsafe beaches may result in minor illnesses such as sore throat or diarrhea. Activities might also result in more serious illnesses such as meningitis, encephalitis or severe gastroenteritis. Children, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems have a greater chance of getting sick when they come in contact with contaminated water,” JIC added in the release.
Reilly explained the six people were swept out by strong currents and three were able to make it back to shore. The fourth male was brought back by rescue personnel and the fifth was retrieved outside the reef line, pulseless and breathless.
