Two people suspected to have drowned while net fishing south of Perth have been identified by friends who joined a frantic search for the pair as Jon and Leslie Ballo.
The bodies of the married couple, who moved from the Philippines nine years ago with their now-orphaned 13-year-old daughter, were pulled from the Peel-Harvey Estuary, about 50m offshore, on Thursday.
The shallow waters, off the Herron Point Boat Ramp carpark at Birchmont is a popular spot for catching blue swimmer crabs in the late summer.
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“Normally, they go net fishing, this couple, as part of their bonding together,” longtime friend and head pastor of New Life Filipino-Australian Community Church, who has not been named, said in a written statement partially translated from Filipino.
“They are both really a good couple and hard workers … Usually, they come back home by midnight,” he said.
But this time, when Jon and Leslie and headed down to the shallow waters of Herron Point with their nets after finishing work on Wednesday, they did not return home.
When they failed to appear at work again on Thursday, Sol Armada, a friend of the couple’s and Leslie’s supervisor, raised the alarm with both their pastor, and the police.
“Leslie’s phone was ringing, but brother Jon’s was not,” the pastor said.
He and Armada “rushed to the area to start our own search”. They drove for about two hours from Midland to the Pinjarra area in search of their friend, until Armada suggested they head to Herron Point.
That’s where they spotted Jon’s car in the carpark about 9.15am — they were one minute behind WA Police, who had just arrived at the scene after triangulating the location of Leslie’s mobile phone.
Armada, the pastor, and the first responders formed a search party, and were soon joined by an aerial search team which located Jon and Leslie within half an hour, about 50m offshore.
“I heard over the radio they were in face up position. That means ‘in survival position,’ both of them,” the pastor said.
Rescue boats rushed to reach them but due to a long stretch of “really shallow” water, the pastor said a rubber boat was deployed to reach Jon and Leslie’s location.
“By noon, they finally brought the two back on shore, where all the paramedics and other teams were waiting at the jetty,” he said.
“While the rubber boat was approaching, I knew in the back of my mind that the worst thing had happened.”
Leslie and Jon were soon after confirmed dead, suspected to have drowned, according to WA Police.
“We can’t speculate what happened … all we can do is to pray and support those who are left behind, the pastor said.
Leslie’s sister Lei Ortega-Moises said in a statement: “It’s sad to think that you left us like this.”
“We love you very much. It hurts so much for us that you are gone.”