A Filipino worker from Cauayan City, Isabela plunged into a raging current to rescue a fellow Filipina tourist who had been dragged underwater at a Taiwan tourist spot, gripping onto a hanging vine to survive until help arrived.
Dhen Mark Quitoriano Suga, a resident of Barangay Minante 1 who has spent five years employed in Taiwan, recounted the ordeal to Bombo Radyo Cauayan. The rescue unfolded during a rest day outing with his co-workers at a scenic destination popular among sightseers.
At the moment of the accident, Suga was cooking in a section of the area far from the water. He only noticed the emergency when he saw the woman going under, having slipped and been carried off by the current while posing for photographs. Onlookers watched but none could move in quickly, held back by the sheer force of the water.
He sprinted toward the scene and managed to reach and hold onto the woman, but the slick rocks caused her to be torn from his grasp a second time. When she disappeared beneath the surface, he leapt in without hesitation to chase after her.
The two were swept along together until they caught hold of a vine and clung to it while waiting to be pulled out. By Suga’s estimate, the struggle against the water lasted somewhere between five and ten minutes. One of his companions who tried to assist was also caught by the current and ended up in a lower stretch of the river.
At one point, fearing they would both drown, Suga told the woman to let go so he could save himself. Overcome by fear, she only tightened her grip, making it harder for either of them to break free of the current.
Suga described the location as a draw for travelers because of its views, though conditions had turned hazardous after repeated rainfall left the current strong and the rocks slippery.
Reflecting afterward, he stressed that helping others matters but that a person must also weigh their own safety and their actual ability to respond in such circumstances. He urged fellow overseas workers, especially those in Taiwan, to exercise caution about where they go during bad weather, noting they had traveled abroad to earn and save for the families they left behind in the Philippines.
