Five drownings so far in Easter break, National Police reported

Santo Domingo.- Five people have drowned in the Dominican Republic over the past few days, three of them children aged 5, 10 and 16, the National Police reported.

In Nagua, in the Maria Trinidad Sanchez province (northeastern), 16-year old Julio Cesar Fernandez Lopez from Cotui drowned when he and his girlfriend were on a seaside trip along with some adults.

The other children were Kendri Deslisma, 5, who drowned while swimmingin in an irrigation canal in Mao, Valverde province, and 10-year-old Yani Yan, who drowned while swimming in the Las Damas river, in Puerto Escondido, Duvergé.

US citizen Joel Alan Russell, 63, drowned off the beach where he was staying in a condo in Cabarete, Puerto Plata. Police also reported that an unidentified body has been found in the Ozama River, in La Cienaga in the National District.