MANILA — Five children have been found dead after they went missing in a suspected drowning incident at the Taal Lake in Barangay Balete, Batangas on Tuesday, authorities said.

The remains of three victims, an 8-year-old girl and two boys aged 6 and 10, were found during a search and retrieval operation Wednesday morning.

Two other bodies were recovered the day prior by a joint team composed of the Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine Air Force, the Balete Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO), and the Philippine National Police Maritime Group. The victims were all girls aged 12 and 13.

According to the divers, the search operation proved difficult because of the murky water at the site where the victims were swimming.

The five children, all cousins, were swimming at the Taal Lake in Barangay Sala, despite a prohibition as the water can go as deep as 14 meters.

According to the Balete MDRRMO and officials at Barangay Sala, two minors also drowned in the lake last month.

Ruben Prisas, the grandfather of the four victims and father of the other one, said they usually go for a swim at the Taal Lake but not in the part where the victims supposedly drowned.

The local government of Balete is now studying the possibility of closing that part of the lake so as to avoid drowning incidents in the future.

- reports from Anna Cerezo and Kori Quintos, ABS-CBN News

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