By Danny Estacio
CALAMBA CITY, Laguna – A truck driver died while three of his passengers were injured after the truck they were riding turned upside down when it went out of control due to zero visibility on the road early morning Monday.
Thick ashfall carpeted the windshield of the ill-fated truck as driver Gilbert Briones, a resident of Barangay San Antonio in Sto. Tomas, Batangas, lost control of the vehicle while negotiating a curve in Barangay Panciano Rizal in this city.
The truck flipped on its roof before smashing into a concrete post.
Briones died from severe injuries sustained while his passengers, Jovin Daen, 22, truck helper and a resident of Sto. Tomas, Batangas; Charity Flores, 33, and a resident of Bicutan,
Taguig City, and Reymar Daen, 34, truck helper and also a resident of Sto. Tamas, Batangas, were hurt.
Police investigation showed that the ashfall coming from the Sunday eruption of Taal volcano.
Meanwhile, Quezon Governor Danilo Suarez has ordered the Quezon Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) to assist and join the rescue effort in Batangas province affected by the Taal volcano eruption.
Suarez’s order came after the Batangas PDRRMO and the Office of the Civil Defense called for more support to the on-going evacuation and rescue operations in Batangas.
The Quezon PDRRMO sent a rescue vehicle and a truck.
Manila Water and Laguna Water have also deployed at least 30 trucks to distribute water in areas in Laguna and Batangas,