Two Russian divers have died in the Philippines after being swept away by strong undercurrents – with one believed to have drowned and the other mauled in a horrifying shark attack, according to officials.
Four Russian men aged 18 to 57 were diving with a Filipino dive instructor in a popular destination off Verde Island on Thursday when they were pulled apart by the current, coast guards said.
While two members of the group and the instructor managed to swim back safely to their boat, two of the tourists, who were identified as Ilia Peregudin, 29, and Maksim Melekhov, 39, went missing.
The dive instructor and other divers in the area, along with Philippine coast guard personnel, immediately launched a search, according to officials.
The first man found by rescuers was pronounced dead on arrival at a local hospital, coast guard district chief Airland Lapitan Lapitan said.
The second was found later that evening ‘being attacked by sharks’, Lapitan said.
It took the rescuers more than half an hour to prize him away from the predators, but eventually, he said, ‘they somehow managed to pull him away.’
The man lost his right arm in the attack, which Lapitan said had been severed as the sharks pulled at him.
It was unclear if the man had been killed by the shark or was already dead, Lapitan added, as the bodies were turned over to family members without an autopsy.
The bodies of the two Russian divers were recovered by the coast guard
The group were swept apart by strong undercurrents in the sea off Verde Island
A group of divers is seen in the area shortly before tragedy struck
Melekhov was found unconscious at sea an hour later and was declared dead by doctors in a Batangas hospital, he said.
An investigation is underway and the coast guard will meet provincial officials to discuss ways to prevent such deadly incidents at Verde Island and other dive spots, Lapitan said.
The group had traveled by boat to the waters off Verde Island from the nearby town of Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro province.
