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9 hours ago
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Two Russian divers were found dead, one in the jaws of a shark, after a strong current separated them from their group at a popular Philippine scuba diving site, a coast guard official said Friday.
Four Russians — 57-year-old Eduart Perigudin, his sons Timofy, 18, and Ilya, 29, and another man — were diving near the Batangas resort area on the main island of Luzon on Thursday afternoon when they and their dive master were pulled apart by an underwater current, district coast guard chief Airland Lapitan told AFP.
Ilya Perigudin was found floating near the shore with both arms missing in what appeared to be a shark attack, according to a coast guard statement. "Multiple sharks were observed in the vicinity during the recovery," the statement read.
Earlier, Lapitan said rescuers saw the 29-year-old "being pulled by a shark" when they located him between 4:00 and 5:30 p.m. local time. It was unclear whether he had died from a shark attack or was already dead when the animal reached him.
The bodies were turned over to family members without an autopsy.
The second victim, identified by Russia's state-run TASS news agency as M. Melekhov, was found about an hour earlier and declared dead on arrival at a local hospital.
Eduart Perigudin, his younger son Timofy, and their dive master were able to surface and return to the boat, Lapitan said.
Shark attacks in Philippine waters are extremely rare, with none recorded in at least a year, according to a global database.
Russia's embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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