Adventist College Student Drowns in Philippines Waterfall

A 20-year-old student from Seventh-day Adventist-owned Mountain View College in the Philippines has drowned in a waterfall accident, the college said.

Venus Alicante Pasco, a graduating medical technology student, died after jumping into the Kumakaon waterfall in Barangay Tandacul Lilingayan Bukidnon, near her hometown, at around 11 a.m. on Sept. 11, said Carlos Aganio, vice president for student affairs at Mountain View College, located on the southern island of Mindanao.

“The entire campus mourns the untimely death of Pasco,” Aganio said. “She was a deeply loved student who was very active.”

Pasco was with a group of friends at the time, and her body was recovered after a diver with an air compressor was able to enter the turbulent whirlpool below the waterfall.

“We held her by her hands and put her on a stretcher after the diver with the compressor pulled her from approximately 5-meter-deep turbulent water,”Douglas Indino Velez Alboria, an accounting instructor at the college, said on Facebook. “This is so sad.”

Friends and family from across the Philippines filled Pasco’s Facebook page with expressions of love and support

“You will always be in our hearts,” classmate Joyce Salvana said.

“See you in heaven,” wrote another.