By Glazyl Masculino
BACOLOD CITY - Five persons were killed, while eight others were hurt, in separate road accidents in Negros Occidental this week.
(Photo courtesy of Cadiz City Police Station / MANILA BULLETIN)
In Cadiz City, two persons died, while six others were injured, after they were trapped under a truck when it fell into a muddy breakwater in Barangay Banquerohan on Sunday.
Police identified the fatalities as Eric Esacala, and Nicolas Pagonsan.
Wounded were truck driver Erlito Tributante, 51, and his passengers - Edmar Dela Peña, 44; Rolly Sinogbuhan, 39; Paz Alpay, 59; Vicente Albos, 54; and Jake Pasilan, 25.
Lt. Col. Robert Mansueto, city police chief, said Tributante was driving his passengers to work when they met an accident.
Mansueto said the ill-fated truck was on its way to the city proper when Tributante lost control over the vehicle. The truck fell into a 12-foot breakwater, trapping the victims under it.
He said that it took 30 minutes for rescuers to remove the vehicle using a boom truck.
The two casualties died of drowning while their other companions sustained injuries and were rushed to Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH) here. They are now stable, he added.
He said they were waiting for the decision of the victims' families for the filing of charges against Tributante.
In Kabankalan City, Robert Rama, 19, and Jerome Apinan, 16, both residents of Barangay Salong, died, while their 16-year-old companion was injured after the motorcycle they were riding suddenly crossed the road, and was struck by a truck driven by 50-year-old Jonathan Gallano last Friday.
The three victims fell from their motorcycles and were rushed to a hospital, where Rama and Apinan were declared dead.
In Candoni town, Villamor Santiago, 19, of Barangay Banga died while his companion John Louie Alegria, 18, was injured in a collision between two motorcycles along Haba bridge at the said village that day. Alegria sustained injuries and was taken into CLMMRH here.