A Russian scuba diver, who claimed to be a professional freediving spearfisher, has died of drowning in Siquijor while spearfishing.
A report by Renan Ansing from Siquijor said Dmitrii Shchipachev, 28, drowned off Cang-alwang, Siquijor town last Wednesday, March 26.
Juvy Pinero, 20, accompanied the Russian national told police that he had refused to go back to the water for a second dive after Shchipachev insisted on going beyond 50 meters (150 feet). Shchipachev went back into the deep to catch a big fish he had earlier seen, the report continued.
Pinero said the Russian may have been caught in strong currents and drowned.
Divers scoured the area for six hours and found the Russian. He was brought to the Siquijor Provincial Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival by Dr. Rommel Masing.
Siquijor town physician Rodulfo Cinco listed the cause of death as asphyxia secondary to salt water drowning.
The victim’s brother arrived in Siquijor two days later to retrieve Shchipachev’s body.
Shchipachev was the second foreigner to meet an accident in Siquijor in the last four months. Last Dec. 5, a Chinese national, Song Mingzi, 51, a widow from Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, disappeared and was presumed to have drowned off San Juan town.
Efforts to locate his body have failed.
