Sunday Outing Turns Tragic

This is a sad but accurate headline, Sunday Outing Turns Tragic, for a tragic story reported in BruDirect.com of Brunei by Rokiah Mahmud:

Bandar Seri Begawan - A picnic to Berakas Forest Recreational Beach turned tragic for a group of Filipino friends as two of them drowned after they saved another just in time.

The two victims, Jonathan Diones and Jhay Pee, both aged 24, joined their friends for the Sunday outing organised by their fast food company.

The body of Jonathan Diones was found around 8.35pm two kilometres away from where he was last sighted. His body was found washed ashore.

The two victims were not alone when a huge wave pulled them deep into the sea. Their friend, Danial, too was dragged in by the rogue wave.

One of the eyewitnesses said that she saw them frantically waving their hands, but she initially thought that the three were having fun and playing with the waves.

However, it turned out to be serious when she heard one of them cry for help. When she saw one of the victims trying to save Daniel from drowning, she immediately alerted her friends about the incident.

However, it was too late as Jonathan and Jhay were dragged in by another big wave but not before they managed to push Daniel to safety.

The rest of the world may not ever heard of Berakas beach, but it is certainly a beautiful place for a Sunday outing according to Jewelle Tan:

I guess it's no longer any surprise that peaceful beach like this one is not at all free from freaque wave encounters! One is hard to fight not being pulled and dragged deeper into sea by the unwelcome and unexpected waves. Here's a picture in BruDirect showing search and rescue at work: