Tab Baldwin during his time coaching the Tall Blacks. Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images

Former Tall Blacks and Otago Nuggets coach Tab Baldwin is on leave as Philippine law enforcement launch an investigation into the deaths of two student athletes from a top university basketball team.

The case has drawn widespread attention in a country where basketball is hugely popular.

Ateneo de Manila University in a statement said two members of its men’s basketball team, Rene Clert Baterbonia and Divine Adili, died in a drowning incident during a team-building exercise in a northeastern coastal province on Monday.

The side is coached by Baldwin, who has led Ateneo to four titles in the country’s prestigious university basketball league.

He built a decorated international career, including guiding New Zealand’s Tall Blacks to a fourth-place finish at the 2002 Fiba World Championship, the best by an Oceania team, and earning Hall of Fame honours in New Zealand.

The 68-year-old American moved to New Zealand to coach the Otago Nuggets in the old second division in 1988 and fell in love with the country.

The Nuggets were promoted to the top division in 1990 but struggled in their debut season and Baldwin was let go.

He decided to remain in New Zealand and rebuild his career.

The Philippines’ National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), on orders from the justice ministry, has created a task force to investigate ‘‘all angles’’ including whether safety protocols were followed, and that there was no foul play, as initial police findings showed.

‘‘An event may be ‘accidental’ in the sense that no-one wished it and yet remains the product of a failure to exercise the care the law demands,’’ the NBI said.

The distraught mother of Baterbonia questioned in an interview with local television what had taken place, after learning of her son’s death.

‘‘I don’t know why that happened,’’ she said.

Baldwin has not issued any public statement since the incident and could not immediately be reached for comment.

The country’s labour department said it would subpoena Baldwin to check that he held a valid employment permit.

Ateneo could not be reached for comment, but the university said in a statement on Thursday it was conducting its own investigation and that Baldwin and the basketball team’s manager had taken leave while it looked into the incident.

The case has also caught the attention of lawmakers who said they would launch a congressional inquiry. — Reuters/Additional reporting RNZ and Adrian Seconi