By FREDDIE LAZARO
ABULUG, Cagayan – Eleven persons were killed and six individuals were injured in a collision between a passenger bus and a pickup truck in Junction Ayaga, Barangay Lucban, this town, before dawn on Thursday, July 11.
ELEVEN persons were killed in a collision between a bus and pickup truck in Abulug, Cagayan on July 11. (Cagayan PIO)
Police Major Antonio Palattao, Abulug chief of police, identified the fatalities as pickup truck passengers Rodolfo Time Sr., wife Evelyn, son Rodolfo Jr., daughter-in-law Krisma Jane, and relatives Maryjane Time, Lovely Mangupag, Krisha Shane Time, Kimberly Mangupag, Rodalyn Time, and Angel Mangupag, all residents of Barangay Daan-ili, Allacapan, Cagayan; and Esmeralda Israel, 16, of Barangay Logac, Lal-lo, Cagayan.
Investigation said that the pickup truck was entering the national highway from an inner road when it was accidentally hit by a GV Florida Transport bus at about 1 a.m.
The bus dragged the pickup truck for about 20 meters, rammed stalls in a public market, and hit a bystander before crashing into a concrete fence.
Due to the impact of the collision, 11 passengers of the pickup truck died on the spot and its driver and two other passengers – Nestor Mangupag, 50, businessman from Barangay Centro, Gattaran, Cagayan, and Kyla and Loveliness Mangupag – sustained serious injuries and were taken to a hospital.
The driver and conductor of the bus, Jay-jet Andrada and Christopher Tapec, and a bystander, Consolacion Jimenez, were also injured.
Police said the pickup truck came from a wake in Barangay Malekkeg, Santa Marcela, Apayao and the bus was enroute to Santa Ana, Cagayan from Baguio City when the accident happened.
Cagayan Gov. Manuel Mamba has extended assistance to the families of the fatalities and the injured.