DAGUPAN CITY: Two 13-year-old boys drowned after they were swept by strong current as they swam at the Pantal River in Barangay Pogo Chico here on Saturday.

Rocky Agustin de Vera, a Grade 8 student, was with two other teens his age when they plunged into the river at about 1 p.m., according to a report released by the Provincial Police Office on Sunday.

While they were swimming, de Vera and Kristian Bautista de la Cruz were carried by the strong river current which overwhelmed their attempt to swim back to the river bank.

The third boy, Franklin Radoc Palis, tried to save his two friends by extending to them a bamboo pole but the river current was too strong for them to reach for the pole.

Residents in the area retrieved de Vera’s body about 200 meters downstream within the village. He was immediately taken to a hospital but a doctor there declared him dead on arrival.

The remains of de la Cruz, meanwhile, were retrieved at about 6:25 a.m. on Sunday in the neighboring village of Pantal, said Cpl. Sharon Cariño of the Dagupan City Police Station’s tactical operation center.

Pantal River is one of the seven rivers crisscrossing this city, cutting through several villages here before exiting to the Lingayen Gulf.